By now, we've written quite a bit on Bassam Frangieh. We've exposed his pro-Hezbollah, pro-Hamas, pro-suicide bombing views. We've documented his condoning of violent attacks on Israelis and his hatred of Americans and life in America.We've already discussed Bassam Frangieh's views as regards Saddam Hussein, how his commitment to democracy is really hollow, and we've released segments from this incoherent rant he gave in 2007 at the University of Bridgeport where he stated, among other things, that Islam is "very democratic" and that Saddam Hussein wasn't a "thief" -- despite the revelation of the Oil-For-Food scandal in 2004.
Now, we're going to move to Frangieh's "academic" work. I mention "academic" with quotation marks because Frangieh was denied a tenure track position because, according to Yale's Deputy Provost, Charles Long, he lacked “substantive original research” to enable him to put him on the tenure-track. (Yale did offer to appoint Frangieh to newly created Lecture II position where he would get a five year contract, instead of a three year one and more money, according to The Yale Herald.)
That lack of scholarship didn't stop President Gann from working to give Frangieh "lateral tenure" immediately upon his arrival at Claremont McKenna College, without it appears doing so much as a cursory Google search on him. She, according to a source close to the decisions, told The Claremont Conservative that Gann told the faculty that were it not for him being at Yale, Frangieh would have received tenure. We don't know whether or not Gann withheld that Frangieh was rejected from consideration for tenure at Yale, but we do know that he was -- and that Claremont McKenna College immediately gave him tenure before he even came to campus in the first ever instance without the usual process of review. The Claremont Conservative has also learned that no one who spoke Arabic was even present at the college when Frangieh was hired.
Frangieh, who holds a Ph.D. in Arabic literature from Georgetown University, so, in theory, he would be eligible for a tenure-track position at Yale (or anywhere else in academia) in that field. That he was not raises interesting questions: why was his scholarship not up to snuff? If not, why not? The answer, in part, is explained by the Yale Herald, which wrote, in 2005,
There's no doubt that Bassam Frangieh is a well-reviewed, if grade inflating, professor at Claremont McKenna College. What concerns many -- and ought to concern all -- is Frangieh's teaching of "culture" and politics under the catch-all course, Trends and Movements in the Modern Middle East when he has endorsed some of the most menacing trends and movements in the modern Middle East.
If that course is anything like his rant before the University of Bridgeport in 2007 or the biased speakers he has brought to campus, including Zaid Shakir and the Syrian ambassador, then it is more than fair to raise questions as to his fitness to teach such a subject, especially in light of the revelation of a new program in Jordan that he will be heading up. Frangieh says that it will teach "major themes in Arab society, culture, and tradition." Islamic-motivated terrorist organizations, anti-Semitism, and suicide bombing are, unfortunately, major themes in the Arab society, but Frangieh has given his support to all of them. Can he really be a credible interpreter of an increasingly volatile part of the world?
Now, we're going to move to Frangieh's "academic" work. I mention "academic" with quotation marks because Frangieh was denied a tenure track position because, according to Yale's Deputy Provost, Charles Long, he lacked “substantive original research” to enable him to put him on the tenure-track. (Yale did offer to appoint Frangieh to newly created Lecture II position where he would get a five year contract, instead of a three year one and more money, according to The Yale Herald.)
That lack of scholarship didn't stop President Gann from working to give Frangieh "lateral tenure" immediately upon his arrival at Claremont McKenna College, without it appears doing so much as a cursory Google search on him. She, according to a source close to the decisions, told The Claremont Conservative that Gann told the faculty that were it not for him being at Yale, Frangieh would have received tenure. We don't know whether or not Gann withheld that Frangieh was rejected from consideration for tenure at Yale, but we do know that he was -- and that Claremont McKenna College immediately gave him tenure before he even came to campus in the first ever instance without the usual process of review. The Claremont Conservative has also learned that no one who spoke Arabic was even present at the college when Frangieh was hired.
Frangieh, who holds a Ph.D. in Arabic literature from Georgetown University, so, in theory, he would be eligible for a tenure-track position at Yale (or anywhere else in academia) in that field. That he was not raises interesting questions: why was his scholarship not up to snuff? If not, why not? The answer, in part, is explained by the Yale Herald, which wrote, in 2005,
...most senior lectors nowadays have Ph.D.s and engage in research. They also teach courses in addition to language instruction classes. Nevertheless, university policy makes a distinction between the kind of research that makes one eligible for tenure and that which does not. Long explained that the works published by most language lectors—those which advance effective methods of language instruction, for example—do not match the research and publishing expectations of tenure track professors. "I would call it a scholarly endeavor, [but] it doesn't necessarily involve research," he said.
In turn, the university holds that these publishing efforts do not qualify foreign language instructors for tenure. "It might well be someone who has put together things that they've experienced in their class. It could certainly be a matter of publication, but it still wouldn't be the same as the kind of original research that is currently required for a ladder faculty department," Long said. "The major difference is whether it advances the scholarship of the field or whether it advances the state of language pedagogy."[Emphasis added]
There's no doubt that Bassam Frangieh is a well-reviewed, if grade inflating, professor at Claremont McKenna College. What concerns many -- and ought to concern all -- is Frangieh's teaching of "culture" and politics under the catch-all course, Trends and Movements in the Modern Middle East when he has endorsed some of the most menacing trends and movements in the modern Middle East.
If that course is anything like his rant before the University of Bridgeport in 2007 or the biased speakers he has brought to campus, including Zaid Shakir and the Syrian ambassador, then it is more than fair to raise questions as to his fitness to teach such a subject, especially in light of the revelation of a new program in Jordan that he will be heading up. Frangieh says that it will teach "major themes in Arab society, culture, and tradition." Islamic-motivated terrorist organizations, anti-Semitism, and suicide bombing are, unfortunately, major themes in the Arab society, but Frangieh has given his support to all of them. Can he really be a credible interpreter of an increasingly volatile part of the world?
