What’s with the Saudi millions, Dr. Esposito? Are the Saudis buying influence at Georgetown? Are they influencing your curriculum, and/or what you say about Islam and jihad? Darth Emerson wants to know, and I’m sure Darth Pipes is interested in the answers also, as am I, Darth Spencer.
“Wolf to Georgetown: Detail Use of Saudi Millions,” by the intrepid Steven Emerson for IPT News (thanks to all who sent this in):
A U.S. congressman is asking Georgetown University about its academic scrutiny of Saudi Arabia and its use of $20 million donated by a Saudi prince in 2005.
U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) wrote to Georgetown President John DeGioia Thursday, saying he was concerned about how the money was being spent at the university’s Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. Of particular concern, Wolf said, was the university’s role in training current and prospective U.S. foreign service personnel.
“The Saudi government continues to permit textbooks to contain inflammatory language about other religions,” Wolf wrote. “Restrictions on civil society and political activists continue to be pervasive. No changes have been made to the underlying legal authority relating to non-Muslim worship that the Saudis have relied on to enforce these rules. The Saudis have cleansed their own country of religious liberties by severely restricting public religious expression to their interpretation and enforcement of wahhabism.”
Wolf’s letter seeks assurances the Georgetown center “maintains the impartiality and integrity of scholarship that befits so distinguished a university as Georgetown.”
Uh, Congressman Wolf, I can answer that one for you right now.