What really changed after Columbia University announced it would reform its Middle East studies curriculum as part of its agreement with the Trump admin?
— Simone Saidmehr (@saidmehr_simone) July 2, 2026
I spent weeks talking to students and faculty to figure it out. The verdict: the Mideast studies department at the center of…
What really changed after Columbia University announced it would reform its Middle East studies curriculum as part of its agreement with the Trump admin?
I spent weeks talking to students and faculty to figure it out. The verdict: the Mideast studies department at the center of the controversy has been left untouched by the revamp.
Come fall, the only class the department will offer on Israel is taught by Joseph Massad, who praised the Oct. 7 attacks.
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New president Jennifer Mnookin took the helm of Columbia University Wednesday, vowing to chart a steady course following a tumultuous Gaza War protest movement and Trump administration threats to pull funding that led the Ivy to make a controversial pledge for reforms.
The government also threatened a takeover of the department called Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies Department (MESAAS), which has long been associated with the Palestinian cause and known as a hub for scholarship critical of Israel.
Columbia’s July 2025 agreement, issued in response to allegations that the protests amounted to discrimination against Jews on campus, pledged to “conduct a thorough review of the portfolio of programs in regional areas across the University, starting with the Middle East” to ensure offerings are “comprehensive and balanced.”
Nearly a year later, the department that Trump targeted has been left untouched, according to its chair, Gil Hochberg.
“No requests, suggestions, recommendations, changes were made or enforced by the university on MESAAS as a department. Our academic autonomy has been respectfully preserved,” she said in an interview with the Forward. “The department itself has not been directly or indirectly affected.”
Instead, to adhere to the settlement terms — which also included a $200 million payment to the government — Columbia has made moves outside the MESAAS department to offer more courses that cover Israel. But undergraduates who study the region say that the resulting fragmentation makes pursuing a major in Mideast studies challenging.
Orpaz Zamir, a Middle East Studies major at Columbia who hopes to pursue a career in Mideast policy, said courses focused on the conflict are limited. “If you want to study about Israel and Palestine, there are only two classes you can take,” referring to a sociology course taught by Professor Yinon Cohen and the course taught by Joseph Massad. He took both.
more:
https://forward.com/news/835298/columbia-mideast-studies-israel-palestinians-department/
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