ABSTRACT
“Don’t teach a class on the modern Middle East until you have tenure. All it takes is one student comment to wreck a career.” This advice, given to me by a senior colleague, was common in the years I was in graduate school (2001–2007). We all heard stories of professors whose political views led to tenure denials. In the aftermath of 9/11, Middle Eastern studies came under even more scrutiny. Critics began to pen diatribes about how experts on the Middle East had done nothing to keep America safe. Lists sprang up online, naming professors unpatriotic and their classrooms a den for anti-American sentiment. At the same time, 9/11 opened jobs across colleges in the United States for experts who could help American undergraduates learn more about Islam and Muslims (Hussain, 2005).
