NYT: NYU Abu Dhabi: Anti-Shia Hiring Policy
Naqi Haider
Published in New York Times today by NYU Professor Mohammad Bazzi.
Best
Naqi
In October 2007, New York University announced an ambitious plan to open a “portal” campus in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates. John Sexton, N.Y.U.’s president at the time and the project’s champion, promised that the new branch would adhere to the same practices as the main campus in New York, “including our standards of academic freedom.”
Ten years later, Mr. Sexton’s promise of academic freedom has proved to be largely worthless. I am an American citizen and a tenured professor at N.Y.U.’s main campus, and I was scheduled to teach a journalism class this fall in Abu Dhabi.
***
Why was I denied?
I am also a Shiite Muslim born in Lebanon. The U.A.E., like Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Arab states, are worried about Iran’s regional ascendance and its influence over Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen. This anxiety fuels a fear that virtually any Shiite in the region could pose a security threat — and could be linked to Iran or its allies.