Middle East Studies Association

Middle East Studies Association (MESA) is a non-profit association that fosters the study of the Middle East, promotes high standards of scholarship and teaching, and encourages public understanding of the region and its peoples through programs, publications and services that enhance education, further intellectual exchange, recognize professional distinction, and defend academic freedom in accordance with its status as a 501(c)(3) scientific, educational, literary, and charitable organization.

Donald Trump

Condemning the Trump Administration’s Terrorizing Students with Unlawful Visa Cancellations

Middle East Studies Association Board | – The MESA Board of Directors and the MESA Task Force on Civil and Human Rights call on all U.S. universities and colleges to heed the Trump administration’s reversal of the unlawful mass visa revocations that have terrorized international students and scholars in recent weeks. We urge campus administrations […]

Bill of Rights

Condemnation of Trump targeting noncitizen Students, Researchers for Constitutionally protected Speech

Middle East Studies Association

Middle East Studies Association MESA Board Joint Statement with the TFCHR regarding deportations The MESA Board of Directors and the MESA Task Force on Civil and Human Rights condemn in the strongest terms the Trump administration’s targeting of noncitizen students and researchers for their constitutionally protected speech and advocacy. As part of an expansive […]

Academic Freedom

Condemnation of Columbia U. for Endangering Int’l Studies in U.S. by Caving to Intrusive Gov’t

Middle East Studies Association

Middle East Studies Association | American Comparative Literature Association | American Studies Association | Association for Asian Studies | National Women’s Studies Association | – We, the Middle East Studies Association joined by the undersigned associations, write to express our deep condemnation of actions taken in the past weeks that imperil the autonomy of centers […]

Academic Freedom

Middle East Studies Assn, AAUP, and Knight Inst. file Lawsuit over Trump Arrests and Deportation for lawful Speech

Middle East Studies Association

Middle East Studies Association | – Policy has created “climate of fear and repression” on campuses around the country, groups say FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 25, 2025 CONTACT: Adriana Lamirande, adriana.lamirande@knightcolumbia.org; AAUP, Kelly Benjamin, kbenjamin@aaup.org BOSTON—The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) today filed a lawsuit seeking to […]

Academic Freedom

The Trump Administration is an Existential Threat to Academic Freedom and Higher Education: Middle East Studies Assn.

Middle East Studies Association

Board of Directors, the Middle East Studies Association The second Trump administration has ushered in an existential threat to academic freedom and higher education in the United States. The current campaign targeting universities is an extension of earlier right-wing efforts to attack and defund teaching about race, gender, and sexuality at the state level, but […]