URGENT ACTION ALERT--North Park U. trying to push out Rev. Don Wagner and CMES

[Hatem Abudayyeh]

dear friends and supporters, we just received word that North Park University is trying to shut down its Center for Middle East Studies (CMES) and deny tenure to the Rev. Don Wagner, who has been a long time friend of the Arab and Palestinian communities of greater Chicago.  for those who may not know, don has been leading the CMES at north park for many years, has an extremely close academic, political, and personal relationship with the AAAN and dozens of other arab and palestinian institutions in chicago, and has essentially become an institution himself.  the CMES has historically brought important speakers from the middle east to chicago and north park, and has allowed for vigorous discussion and debate on academic, political, economic, and social issues as they relate to the middle east and to middle eastern communities locally. don and the CMES have endowed a scholarship fund for palestinian students to attend north park, have been active in supporting all of our organizations and events, and have established themselves as one of the most culturally sensitive and community based middle east centers in the entire country. we send our students to north park because we know and trust don wagner.  and now north park is trying to push him out.  as we saw last year when depaul university pushed norman finkelstein out, and as we see academics who try to bring discussion and debate about palestine and palestinian issues to their campuses get attacked across the country, north park's actions in relation to Don Wagner and CMES are cause for major concern.  we in the arab community of chicago, and all friends of justice and academic freedom, must support Don right now. please see this letter from the CMES board below, and write letters and make phone calls immediately to north park's president.  as you will notice, north park is giving don a deadline of TOMORROW to agree to its terms, so we must make our calls and send our emails TODAY.  make sure to send a BLIND CARBON COPY of your letters to me at hat...@yahoo.com thank you, hatem abudayyeh arab american action network (AAAN) ____________________________________________________________ Dear Friends of Don Wagner and the Center for Middle East Studies,   Many of you are aware of the latest news with Don Wagner and North Park University. Don has been notified that the university is closing the Center for Middle East Studies this summer, terminating its board immediately, and offering Don only a one year contract for 2009-2010. The CMES, along with three other cultural centers, will be replaced by what the university called its “Collabortary for Urban and Intercultural Learning.” Now it’s becoming clear that the university is moving in that direction without the leadership of Don Wagner. We have been outraged by the decision but are still negotiating with the university. Yesterday, Don was put under major pressure to sign an agreement with the university by an imposed deadline of tomorrow, June 30th.   We need friends of Don and the Center to call and put out letters to the President of the university today and tomorrow.  We apologize for the short notice, but things escalated very quickly.  Don is currently working with a lawyer, but we need all your support to keep a Middle East presence at the university and the neighboring community. Please see these talking points for your calls and letters: 1) Don and the CMES have historically played a major role in the Arab-American community, through educational events, interfaith dialogues, sponsorship of north park's Middle East Student Association (MESA), and scholarships for students from Palestine. 2) The Arab community in greater Chicago is a huge one, and Don's connection with this community is what promotes its interest in attending activities and events at North Park, as well as sending its Arab students from Chicago and beyond to the university.  If North Park is attempting to push Don out, then the Arab community of Chicago must be concerned about North Park's interest in continuing its relationship with our community.   3) The Palestinian Scholarship Program:  Without Don and his connections, we do not believe that the university can find the funds to provide Palestinian students with scholarships to attend North Park. Without the Palestinian students, we believe MESA will suffer and by extension, the Middle Eastern section of the "collaboratory" will suffer as well. 4) The CMES board must be retained as an advisory council to Don, to assist him in fundraising and programming efforts.  The current board of the CMES and Don's personal connections have allowed North Park to bring in highly recognized speakers and lecturers to its campus. Without Don and his board of advisors, the university's lectures and programming would most definitely suffer.  And the CMES is independently funded, so university claims that this closing is the result of a budget crisis is disingenuous. 5) Don Wagner deserves a long-term faculty contract at North Park University.  His scholarship is unchallenged and the vast majority of his students give him great reviews and evaluations.  Don has fought for a Middle East minor, Arabic language courses, and general students' rights at North Park for many years, which makes him more than just a scholar and academic as well.   6) Don Wagner would be perfect for the position of "Faculty Fellow" at the new ”Collaboratory,”  because of his vast experience in collaborating with other cultural institutions, and his attendance and participation in dozens of seminars and conferences on issues of justice and peace.   7) We are afraid that, if Don is pushed out of North Park, Middle East and peace and justice issues will not be supported in the new “Collabortary." North Park's president's info is:   David Parkyn President North Park University Phone: (773) 244-5710 Fax: (773) 244-4953 dpa...@northpark.edu Sincerely, CMES Board