Harvard and Georgetown accept funds from Saudi prince

Last week, Saudi Prince al-Waleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz donated $20 million each to Harvard and Georgetown Universities, to help "bridge the understanding between East and West, between Christianity and Islam, and between Saudi Arabia and the Unites States."

So what, you might say? Well, the irony is just delicious. The "see no evil, hear no evil" academic orientation of the modern social science faculty - oh, unless we're talking Western evils here - towards Middle East dictatorships is very pronounced, and accepting donations from those who perpetuate the very crimes the ivory tower claims to stand against ... well, that's pretty rich:

Helping to promote peace and tolerance is surely a laudable goal, but al-Waleed's cash may do the opposite. Underlying the prince's statement is the assumption that Americans have too negative a perception of Islam and Saudi Arabia. While this might be the case, much of the concern about of Islam and the Arab world is in fact a justified reaction to that world's uncomfortable realities, such as the oppression of women, Islamist incitement, and apology for terror. But universities — and especially Georgetown and Harvard — are not the place to find this sort of distaste. Their classrooms, and especially Middle Eastern-studies departments, tend instead to amplify anti-American rhetoric, legitimize conspiracy theories, and, in the name of cultural relativism, gloss over the oppression that exists in the Arab world.

Recently, Harvard's Middle East faculty registered a deafening silence when Saudi Arabia shunned the "West" by boycotting participation in the Broader Middle East and North Africa Initiative. The professors continue to say nothing in the face of Riyadh's production of textbooks that inculcate young children to wage "jihad for the sake of Allah." And Harvard students are just as placid. During my time at Harvard, my peers seldom avoided an opportunity to downplay the intolerant radicalism that has permeated Muslim societies. This resulted in a delicious irony, with many Harvard students describing themselves as progressive while denouncing White House prioritization of democratization abroad, ignoring imprisoned dissidents, urging divestment from democracies, and falling over themselves in a rush to excuse autocratic regimes. Nowhere is this irony more clear than when it comes to dealing with al-Waleed's home country, Saudi Arabia, as Harvard feminists attack President Bush for his domestic sexist slights, real and imagined, but remain silent when Saudi courts condemn women to death for the crime of having been raped.