Harvard still hasn't decided what to do with that $2.5 million gift from United Arab Emirates president Sheik Zayed bin Sultan Nahyan, but the heat is on, and according to yesterday's Washington Post, Rachel Fish has no intention of letting up.
When she received a master's degree in theological studies last month, Rachel Fish accepted her diploma from the dean of Harvard Divinity School and handed him something in return: 130 pages of research and a petition.
The research was on anti-American and anti-Jewish propaganda allegedly emanating from a Middle Eastern think tank, the Zayed International Centre for Coordination and Follow-Up. The petition urged Harvard University to give back a $2.5 million gift from the center's namesake, Sheik Zayed bin Sultan Nahyan, president of the United Arab Emirates.
Over the past six months, Fish, 23, has almost single-handedly created a furor over the sheik's three-year-old donation, which was earmarked for a professorship in Islamic studies at the divinity school and had attracted little notice.
The endowed chair is on hold as the divinity school dean, William A. Graham, and the university president, Lawrence H. Summers, examine the sheik's links to the think tank and consider whether to reject his money, a university spokeswoman said.
With her research, which she conducted alongside her coursework but not for credit, Fish has handed Harvard a dilemma. Despite the university's $17.5 billion endowment, faculty members say $2.5 million is far from pocket change for the divinity school, Harvard's smallest graduate school, with 39 faculty members and about 475 students.
Moreover, giving the money back might be seen as an admission that university officials failed to vet the gift. There could even be diplomatic repercussions if Summers, who served as treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, publicly spurns a gift from the leader of a U.S. ally in the war on terrorism.
I pause here to consider Harvard's "dilemma." Seems to me it comes down to this: how do they keep this money without looking like they pander to anti-Semitic, anti-Western, anti-American bigots? If they choose to listen to the likes of Abdulla Saboosi and James Zogby, no problem.
"Knowing Sheik Zayed -- knowing his generosity, knowing he's not anti-Semitic, he's not anti-America -- it will not sit very well" if the money is rejected, said Abdulla Saboosi, a spokesman for the UAE's embassy in Washington. "I hope it doesn't come down to that."
[ . . .]
Saboosi, the embassy spokesman, said the center is "not connected in any shape or form to Sheik Zayed, nor to the government of the UAE. It's an independent institution" established in 1999 by the League of Arab States. The sheik's son plays an honorary role as chairman, but programming decisions are made by the professional staff, he said.
That's interesting, because The (official government) Emirates News Agency, has this to say on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of UAE independence:
Abu Dhabi, Nov 27, 2001 (WAM) -- The Zayed Centre for Coordination and Follow up, ZCCF, was established in September 1999, with the main objectives of seeking to strengthen seeks, Arab solidarity in all fields,to help in the evolution of a strategic Arab vision in facing current and future challenges and to strengthen and protect the Arab identity. It operates within the framework of the philosophy of President H.H. Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan, and with the support and follow up of Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister, and Chairman of the ZCCF.
To mark the 30th anniversary of the UAE's National Day, the Emirates News Agency, WAM, has prepared this report on the Centre, which has been working closely with the Arab League over the last two years to achieve its aim of becoming a forum for inter-Arab and Arab-Non Arab dialogue.
That's just the beginning. In fact, the whole report is a tribute to the contribution of the 'Centre' to UAE society. In keeping, of course, with Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan's "vision." So "not connected in any way" doesn't sound like an entirely accurate statement. But back to the WaPo:
James J. Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute in Washington, said that on a recent trip to the Middle East, senior UAE officials advised him against appearing at the Zayed Centre, which he took as a sign that the government was embarrassed by some of its activities.
But Zogby said he is convinced that there are "at least six degrees of separation between Sheik Zayed" and the center's programs. Using that standard, he said, "you could smear any politician or corporation" in the United States.
Fish's campaign "smacks of a witch hunt," Zogby said. "The purpose is to smear and to taint and to create a McCarthyite attitude so that people will be afraid to associate with any Arab country, or Arab business, or Arab leader."
Ah, yes, the proverbial "witch hunt," the ubiquitous "smear and taint" campaign and always, always the inevitable reference to Senator McCarthy. Fortunately, we can always count on Mr. Zogby for this sort of inflamatory rhetoric. I'll let Ms. Fish have the last word.
Fish said university officials have questioned whether the sheik bears any responsibility for the center. But she noted that the sheik's son, Deputy Prime Minister Sultan bin Zayed Nahyan, is the center's chairman. She also cited news reports that the sheik's wife gave $50,000 in 1998 for the legal defense in France of Roger Garaudy, a writer who questions whether the Holocaust took place.
"If he doesn't endorse these things, why hasn't he ever disassociated himself from them?" Fish said.
