Two government programs within the Department of Education meant to boost national security are actually funding college departments and professors with anti-American beliefs, according to a report from The Daily Wire.
The National Resource Center’s fellowship program and the Foreign Language and Area Studies fellowship claim to bolster “the security and prosperity of the United States” by training future diplomats and foreign language experts. However, many of the “future diplomats” receiving federal funding are faculty members with inherently anti-American beliefs.
Columbia University boasted radical left-wing professor Dr. Joseph Massad as a selling point to its grant application to the Department of Education. Massad called Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7 “a stunning victory of the Palestinian resistance.”
Students claim that Massad “takes a categorically anti-U.S. tack at every possible opportunity.”
“In 2002, Massad gave a talk at Columbia called ‘On Zionism and Jewish Supremacy,’” an analysis from OpenTheBooks said.
Columbia received $2.8 million under the Foreign Language and Area Studies fellowship between 2020 and 2024 alone. Columbia is the second-highest recipient of Middle East Foreign Language and Area Studies funding, per OpenTheBooks.
Columbia also received an ongoing grant from the National Resource Center intended to shape how the Middle East is taught in American schools.
The top grant recipient is Indiana University, which employs Professor Abdulkader Sinno. Sinno is a faculty advisor for a group that protested Jewish students on campus and accused Israel of “genocide” and “colonialism.” Sinno was suspended in 2024 for hosting the terrorist-affiliated Palestinian Solidarity Committee.
Indiana’s vice provost said there are “concerns regarding [Sinno’s] judgment” as he once threatened a colleague.
Given these universities’ ties to extremist professors, many are curious why the federal government would be funding grant programs to professors who advance ideals that are antithetical to the success of America and American allies.
