Emirates Students Leave UA

Ten students suddenly quit school at the University of Arkansas and returned home to the United Arab Emirates in mid-September.

A professor at their exchange university in the Emirates requested they come home, said Michael Freeman, director of International Programs at the UA.

“One person at that university was causing a panic trying to get them to come home,” he said.

The teacher in the Emirates apparently thought the students would be safer there in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks on New York City and the Pentagon, even though the United States may soon take military action in the Middle East. Two students from the Emirates chose to stay in Fayetteville.

Freeman said in a Sept. 25 interview that there had been no physical violence toward Middle Eastern students at the UA since the terror attacks.

“Most of the things we’ve heard about were verbal, no physical assaults,” he said.

“When everything is quiet, all the students will be able to come back,” one of the UA students said before leaving for the Emirates. After requesting that his name not be used in this article, he predicted most of the students would return in January.

“Everyone is emotional now,” he said.

The Saudi Slant

Some of those emotions spilled over during a panel discussion on the Middle East at the UA on Sept. 19.

Ted Swedenburg, an anthropology professor on the panel, said the United States’ policies, military presence and alliance with Israel have inflamed hostilities in the Middle East, according to an area newspaper.

Michael Lieber — a physics professor and adviser to the Jewish student organization, Hillel — said Swedenburg’s remarks made it sound as though Osama bin Laden sent terrorists to destroy the World Trade Center and Pentagon because of the United States’ friendship with Israel.

What made it worse, Lieber said, is that most of the students in the crowd of about 250 cheered after Swedenburg’s remarks.

“It left me with a bad taste in my mouth,” he said. “There was no counter balance to the argument.”

Lieber said bin Laden is apparently irritated by the U.S. alliance with Israel, “but it’s really not high on his priority list.” Lieber said bin Laden’s venom toward Americans more likely stems from U.S.-Saudi relations.

“He hates the Saudi government,” Lieber said.

According to MSNBC, America’s coziness with the Saudi Royal family since the Gulf War is “particularly infuriating” to bin Laden.

“Specifically, he railed against the presence of American and European troops on the soil of the Arabian peninsula, site of Islam’s holiest cities, Mecca and Medina,” according to MSNBC.com.

Lieber was concerned that the comments from Swedenburg might make some people hostile toward Jewish students and faculty members.

“We have a large anti-Semitic concentration here in the Ozark hills,” Lieber said, referring to former gubernatorial candidate Ralph Forbes and a Ku Klux Klan enclave near Harrison.

“I think we’ve averted any real problems, like threats to anybody,” Lieber said. “But the Jewish community is worried if people keep whipping up this kind of thing.”

We were unable to reach Swedenburg for a comment.

Lieber said he and about six Jewish students were among those who attended the Sept. 19 panel discussion. Lieber said the UA no longer tracks the number of Jewish students on campus, but when they did monitor such things some 15 years ago, the UA had about 100 Jewish students. The UA currently has only one student from Israel.

Middle East Studies

The King Fahd Middle East Studies Program was founded at the UA in 1993 through a $20.7 million gift from King Fahd of Saudi Arabia. The program’s endowment is now $25.8 million.

Among other programs, MEST conducts faculty and student exchanges with Jordan and Morocco. Queen Noor of Jordan spoke at the UA’s commencement last May.

Lieber said the program historically has favored the Saudi point of view. He said MEST has never brought an Israeli speaker to the UA or hired an Israeli to teach there.

“The Middle East Studies Program claims to give a balanced presentation, but they all sit on the same end of the teeter-totter,” Lieber said. “Here, they only hear one side. There’s nobody on the faculty to present the other side.”

Vincent Cornell, director of MEST, didn’t return repeated telephone calls from the Business Journal.

Lieber said he and Najib Ghadbian, a professor of political science, will discuss the issue at 8 p.m., Oct. 2, on a live broascast on UATV.

Middle Eastern students at the University of Arkansas*

Country — Number

Jordan — 35

Saudi Arabia — 31

Pakistan — 18

United Arab Emirates** — 12

Kuwait — 6

Lebanon — 6

Qatar — 5

Turkey — 5

Gaza# — 4

Bahrain — 3

Iran — 3

West Bank# — 3

Egypt — 2

Morocco — 2

Yemen — 2

Israel — 1

Oman — 1

Syria — 1

Afghanistan — 0

Iraq — 0

* The numbers represent students who enrolled on the Fayetteville campus for the fall 2001 semester.

** The number for the United Arab Emirates includes 10 students who have left for the semester but may return next year.

# Israeli occupied with current status subject to the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement. Permanent status to be determined through future negotiations.

Source: The University of Arkansas International Programs office.