A Bold Answer to the Decline of Middle East Studies in America

The crisis in America’s elite colleges and universities–brewing for decades–burst into public view following the Hamas assault on Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023. These events have precipitated an era of great innovation and ferment in American higher education with donors, alumni, and students seeking a return to the original truth-seeking and citizen-preparing mission of their alma maters. Still, to borrow from Churchill, we’re not even at “the end of the beginning” of this process.

Entire academic departments have been hijacked with downstream implications for sectors ranging from American business to national security. For students in Middle Eastern studies, the prospect of preparing diverse thinkers and leaders to serve American interests is becoming less and less possible. For them, decisions like Harvard’s recent removal of two leaders of their Center for Middle Eastern Studies following charges of antisemitic programming on campus post-October 7th, only reveal longstanding criticisms of anti-Israel bias across the discipline. 

The towering Middle East expert Bernard Lewis first sounded the alarm about the decay of his field in a landmark article in The American Scholar in 1979. He cited three fundamental problems – declining academic standards, the displacement of scholarship by advocacy, and the corrupting flow of foreign money. Since then, it is no exaggeration to say those problems have grown a thousandfold, as the millions from the Saudis grew into billions from the Qataris. The founders of MESA (Middle East Studies Association), exacting scholars who venerated critical thinking and eschewed the politicization of their field, would turn over in their graves if they knew the organization’s amended mission today places “advocacy” on par with “scholarship.”

We decided “enough is enough.” Enough with complaining about the problem. Enough with lamenting the lack of Middle East programs where we could recommend young people pursue graduate studies to prepare themselves for a meaningful career in public service, international development, journalism, or business.

To create an alternative, we are announcing a partnership distinctive in higher education today – a joint initiative by a respected university and our nation’s foremost think tank on Middle East policy to create a rigorous, in-person, two-year master’s program in what we call “Middle East Policy Studies.”

This program will represent the best of our two institutions. Founded by the late, great social scientist, James Q. Wilson, the Pepperdine School of Public Policy has a longstanding commitment to preparing policy leaders grounded in the practice of “viewpoint diversity” and the “moral sense,” producing critical thinkers across an array of policy domains. And at The Washington Institute, we are committed to advancing American interests in peace and security in the Middle East by bringing scholarship, knowledge, and expertise to bear on the making of foreign policy.

Together, we will build a program on three pillars – understanding the history, politics, and societies of the contemporary Middle East; understanding the evolution of American foreign policy, especially toward the region; and understanding the policymaking toolkit, from policy formation to execution. Our faculty will be composed of respected leaders in their fields (from our two institutions and beyond), with accomplished policymakers from presidential administrations of both parties represented.

All students will travel with our instructors on a special policy trip to key Middle East capitals. And they will all have the opportunity to intern at major governmental, diplomatic, or development institutions. The result is that they will all leave our program with the skills and knowledge to be effective players in the world of Middle East policy—but without the radical indoctrination that has become customary.

Our financial model will be different from other schools, too. Many look at their master’s programs as money-making machines that support bloated university bureaucracies and programs of dubious academic value. Some, especially in this field, rely directly on support from foreign governments or corporations. Others open their doors to huge percentages of foreign students, especially from China and the Gulf, who pay exorbitant tuition fees that keep these schools afloat.

We have chosen a different path. To attract the very best and brightest, we will ensure that merit is the sole criterion for admission by launching this program tuition-free. And we will do this by relying solely on donations from American citizens and foundations.

Is this a gamble? Yes. But it is based on two solid bets – that the Middle East will remain a focus of American foreign policy and business for decades to come, and that there are sufficient numbers of outstanding students across our country thirsting for the rigor and academic freedom of the program we envision. Given that the stakes are crucial to America’s future, it’s a gamble worth taking.

We aim to open our doors in the autumn of 2025.