Middle East Studies

Brown Expands Regional Studies Program

March 5, 2018

With support for scholarship focused on Israel, Brown expands regional studies programs, as seen on News From Brown.

From the Brown Daily Herald – Alums finance Israel Fund as first regional endowed fund. Students, professors disagree on whether fund is academically or politically motivated; “Director of Middle East Studies Beshara Doumani expressed uncertainty about the agenda behind the Israel Fund. Unlike the Middle East Studies program, which ‘was built slowly, organically, from the bottom up,’ by students and faculty, Doumani said the Israel Fund ‘completely descends from the top down. Instead of (being) student- or faculty-driven, it seems to be donor-driven.’ Alums who donate to the Israel Fund may be politically motivated ‘to influence perceptions about a particular country or connections to that particular country,’ Doumani added.”