Columbia Faculty Recommend Anti-Israel Professor for Middle Eastern Studies Positionby Jonas Du Last July, as part of a $221 million settlement with the federal government over antisemitism claims, Columbia University pledged to reform its approach to Middle Eastern studies. Among the commitments made was a promise “to ensure the educational offerings are comprehensive and balanced.” But as The Free Press’s Maya Sulkin reported last month, that pledge appears not to have been upheld. All four finalists under consideration for the Edward Said Professorship in Modern Arab Studies and Literature, a prominent position in the Middle East Studies department, had expressed overt animosity toward Israel. Now, Columbia’s history department has made its choice. In a March 9 message that has not previously been reported, the selection committee “unanimously and enthusiastically” recommended Harvard professor Rosie Bsheer for the position. Bsheer has a long history of anti-Israel activism. One year ago, she was removed as a leader of Harvard’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies for “insufficiently balanced” programming on Palestine. While she was associate director, the center hosted speakers who “appeared to justify Hamas’s actions” on October 7, 2023, according to Harvard’s antisemitism report. The Trump administration accused the center of fueling “antisemitic harassment” and reflecting “ideological capture.” During the spring semester of 2025, Bsheer helped organize a series of panels that a senior administrator reportedly flagged for lack of viewpoint diversity, including one that former Harvard president Larry Summers said was “very likely” antisemitic. Bsheer was also one of the faculty members who grilled the administration over its unwillingness to negotiate with students participating in an anti-Israel encampment in 2024. In May 2021, at the end of a two-week war Hamas began by launching missiles into Israel, Bsheer shared resources with the Harvard community that reframed the conflict “as part of the ongoing Nakba of 1948.” “Rosie Bsheer is a rising star in the field of Modern Middle East history,” the committee wrote. “As a member of our department, she will not only be a leading contributor to the Middle East program, but to other fields as well.” They cited her four years helping lead the Harvard center as evidence of her “record of service,” but did not acknowledge her dismissal from the post. They also tout her past collaboration with Manan Ahmed, a Columbia history professor who participated in a protective blockade of the April 2024 encampment. The recommendation now goes to Columbia’s head of Arts and Sciences, the provost, and the board of trustees for approval. A source familiar with the selection process said Bsheer will now undergo a “rigorous” vetting process with “multiple additional levels of review,” which could take a full year. The previous holder of the professorship was Rashid Khalidi from 2003 to 2024. Khalidi, who Bsheer described as a mentor, stopped teaching at Columbia in protest of the school’s “capitulating to the Trump administration” and adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism, which Khalidi said would make it “impossible” to teach about Israel. As part of last June’s settlement, Columbia appointed a senior vice provost and a review committee to ensure the Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies department had “balanced” offerings. That review committee includes several members who supported a boycott of Israel and defended students who justified October 7. Columbia declined to comment on the committee’s recommendation of Bsheer. |