By Waleed Shahid

The Middle East is an important topic in today’s society, but professors feel that Haverford’s current Middle Eastern Studies program is lacking. Across the tri-co, the opportunities are limited and there are issues with quality of instruction and consistency and coherency, Provost Linda Bell said.

The College is therefore seeking to develop a new Middle East and Islamic Studies program though an initiative of interested faculty, Bell said.

“There has been a recognized impetus to increase our exposure to other cultures and dialogues,” she said. “Obviously lots is occurring in the Middle East.”

Plans are still in the early stages, but Haverford has begun the conversation. On Oct. 29, Chase Auditorium hosted experts on the Muslim World to help facilitate the development.

The main issues concerning the creation of such a program at Haverford include how to facilitate foreign language study, hire new faculty, and choose courses for the curriculum.

Haverford currently has a hiring freeze because of the financial crisis and no slots for new professors.

“There are open spots in the FCAE [Faculty Committee on Academic Enrichment] proposals that could be eligible if there’s interest,” Bell said.

Though Haverford’s faculty could currently handle a minimal Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies curriculum, the professors felt it was important to have both a historian of the modern Middle East and a specialist in Arabic language and literature.

From the beginning, the professors on the panel made it clear that foreign language training was important, especially in Arabic, Turkish and Farsi.

“It is impossible to study a culture without access to that culture’s language," said Jamal Elias, Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. "Graduate school area and religious studies programs have very high standards for language training for their incoming students.”

However, the professors recognized that as a small liberal arts college, Haverford has limited resources in terms of area studies.

Elias suggested that students take such language classes at UPenn. However, having to take a course at Penn could eat up a student’s whole day, said Mary C. Wilson, professor of Middle Eastern History at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Another option is putting the emphasis on tri-co cooperation, even if Haverford also draws on Penn, Associate Professor of Anthropology Maris Gillette pointed out.

Wilson turned to study abroad programs as the solution. “I am completely blown-away by your internship programs,” she said. “Similar programs should be developed for summer-institutes in Arabic, Persian, and Turkic countries.”

Some professors said that parents may be wary of sending their children to Muslim countries. Wilson and Euben pointed to existing college programs in Egypt, Morocco, Lebanon and Syria.

President Dr. Stephen G. Emerson ’74 said he would like to see a study abroad program similar to Haverford’s intensive Mandarin Chinese language in Beijing and Harbin. He would like a wider array of options for studying abroad in the Muslim World than what currently exists.

Gillette said there was wide support for bringing Arabic to Haverford and facilitating students who want to study Persian and Turkish. There was also support among faculty to ask the CPGC to fund students for language programs and study abroad opportunities such as those run by Middlebury College.

Faculty were also concerned with what courses would be offered in any program. The curriculum would ideally have two core courses, one on Islam and one on the Middle East, as a “foundation for a concentration and a minor.” Wilson suggested that Haverford should offer more courses in Middle Eastern and Islamic literature-in-translation, history and archeology, not simply in political science and religion.

Barak Mendelsohn, assistant professor of Political Science, suggested that Haverford should start the process by creating an “eclectic, disorganized curriculum from the start until we reach a critical mass.”

Professor of Sociology Mark Gould pointed out the inherent weaknesses of an area studies major, stating that students would lose necessary analytical skills if they spent their entire undergraduate years in an interdisciplinary program concentrating on learning languages, not focusing on a single academic major.

Professors roundly acknowledged that a program should not be limited to the Arab World or to the Near East. Furthermore, they acknowledged that the majority of Muslims are not Arabs, and thus do not speak Arabic. There was broad consensus regarding Haverford’s dearth of courses relating to South Asia, where the majority of Muslims live.

Students expressed their hopes about the faculty’s efforts.

“I personally think that Haverford could start by creating a concentration in MEIS [Middle East and Islamic Studies] and slowly grow the program,” said Nazanin Soroush ’13, who attended Thursday’s forum. “But let’s hope that they take action soon and not feel overwhelmed by the challenges.”

“A MEIS Program at Haverford would be a most welcome addition,” said Rachel Kobasa ’13, who takes Arabic at Haverford through the bi-college program. “The Middle East is an important region, both historically and currently, and deserves its own focus.”

Center for Peace and Global Citizenship Academic Director Alex Kitroeff, who led the forum, emphasized that the program ought to be academically rigorous.

“[It needs to] achieve a creative interface among the courses in order to offer our students something more than the benefit of individual courses and provide them with the capacity to understand the region or Islamic cultures in a more focused manner,” he said.

Bryn Mawr Professor Tamara Neuman said more progress will be made in the coming months.

“My hope is that Tri-Co will continue its efforts to develop MEIS, and that it will marshal existing as well as new resources for the development of a much needed area of study,” she said.

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