Qatar has been accused of being the 'largest foreign donor' to U.S. universities. I was curious, and after looking into it, was surprised at what I found.
I have been a vocal critic of university administrators who seem unable or unwilling to maintain order on their campuses, and particularly those who struggle to use plain language about the difference between right and wrong. I have also questioned whether our 'elite' universities really earned or deserve that status when, increasingly, they have become engines for indoctrination on only one side of the political spectrum.
thought about this recently while watching some of the Congressional hearings about campus unrest, and the disturbing evidence of antisemitic messages and other hate speech. This deserves the attention it is receiving, and university administrators must be called to account for inaction or worse. But I was surprised to see some of the hearing testimony go off-topic into unfounded, conspiratorial speculation that 'foreign funding' was fueling campus unrest.
The six campuses have operated in Qatar for more than 20 years, awarding degrees to Qatari women and men, and to others who wish to study there. The idea originated with an impressive Qatari woman, Sheikha Moza Bint Nasser, who was determined to expand education opportunities for women, and to elevate the standards of education in Qatar and the region. It was wildly successful.
Qataris are justifiably proud of what these universities have accomplished. Americans should be too. In fact, there is a long tradition of higher education in this region. Before the Civil War, American missionaries in the Middle East secured a charter to establish the Syrian Protestant College, which became the American University of Beirut, perhaps the most influential university in that region in the past 100 years.
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