Middle East Studies Association Home Page

The Middle East Studies Association (MESA) is a non-political association that fosters the study of the Middle East, promotes high standards of scholarship and teaching, and encourages public understanding of the region and its peoples through programs, publications and services that enhance education, further intellectual exchange, recognize professional distinction, and defend academic freedom. More

What's New(s):

	MESA 2009 program (pdf of preliminary program)
	Alert: New procedures for US-bound travelers from Visa Waiver Program countries
	Alert: Potential for seizure of electronic materials at the border
	Academic Freedom at Risk: Help MESA Defend the American Campus

MESA's Listservs and CAF Letters
Sign-up for a MESA listserv or to be sent by email copies of CAF letters when they are issued.

Quick Find:

The latest news from
MESA's Committee on
Academic Freedom

November 11, 2009	Letter to government officials expressing concern regarding the arrest and subsequent deportation to Gaza by Israeli authorities of Ms. Berlanty Azzam, a 21-year-old student of business translation who was weeks away from completing her degree at Bethlehem University.
October 26, 2009	Letter to Sudan's University of Khartoum President Mustafa Idris protesting the procedures followed in the expulsion of two students, Mr. Shams al-Din Muhammad al-Hassan Abbas Shatir and Ms. Rasha Abd al-Hamid Hasan Ali.
October 26, 2009	Letter to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei expressing shock and dismay at the arrest, conviction, and harsh sentencing of Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh.
October 7, 2009	Letter to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei expressing very grave concern and mounting consternation over the continued intimidation, arrests, expulsions, and unwarranted violent crackdown carried out by the Iranian authorities against peaceful student activists on Iranian university campuses, as well as the latest spate of harassment and dismissal of university faculty on grounds of political and ideological dissent.
October 7, 2009	Letter to Israeli officials regarding the denial of Rima Najjar Merriman, a citizen of the US and Assistant Professor of American Literature at the Arab American University in Jenin (AAUJ), entry into the West Bank at Allenby on September 14, 2009.
September 21, 2009	Letter to University of Bahrain President Ebrahim Ahmed Aljanahi expressing concern at the disciplinary action taken against university student Ms. Noor Abbas. Earlier this year, Ms. Abbas circulated a statement on behalf of the Student Union List criticizing some policies and facilities at the University.
September 14, 2009	CAF-endorsed open letter written by the National Coalition Against Censorship to Yale University President Richard Levin and members of the Yale Corporation protesting the decision to remove all images of Jyette Klausen's forthcoming book The Cartoons that Shook the World published by Yale University Press.
September 04, 2009	Letter protesting the Erasmus University Rotterdam’s August 19 decision to terminate Dr. Tariq Ramadan’s guest professorship in Citizenship and Identity at the EUR due to his hosting a program on the Iranian English-language television channel Press TV.