Word: keenan
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GSAS Dean Edward L. Keenan and the nine members of the committee for Middle Eastern Studies were unavailable for comment yesterday, and several Harvard officials, including Dean of the Faculty Henry Rosovsky, declined to make a statement on either Khalidi's appointment or Soloway's resignation...
...that the Khalidi appointment was a prerequisite to receiving the donation, calling the professorship "a normal, no-strings chair." Still, the controversy surrounding the Khalidi appointment showcased the special difficulties attendant on gifts from foreign nations, particularly those with cultures and governments very different from our own. Edward L. Keenan, dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) and outgoing director of the center for Middle Eastern Studies, notes that problems may arise when foreign donors do not understand Harvard's policy of accepting only donations without conditions: "After all, American philanthropy is a very special institution...
Despite this potential for misunderstanding. University officials see little likelihood that such donations present a risk to Harvard's academic integrity. "There are those who misunderstand and they don't stay around long," says Keenan of some foreign donors, adding. "I see very little danger that Harvard will take money on any terms...
...Keenan suggests that attention has been drawn to the Saudi donations only because of some larger fear of Saudi influence in our society. Many Americans feel that through their prodigious investments, the Saudis are taking control of fundamental domestic institutions. By contrast, Keenan notes, there was little controversy more than 10 years ago when a Polish national donated the funding for the Jurzakovsky Chair for Polish Language and Literature, a chair currently filled by Professor Stanislaw Baranczak. "The thing that makes people ask question is that the money comes from Saudi Arabia," the dean suggests, adding...
Edward I. Keenan, director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies and a member of the committee, attended ceremonies last weekend in Karachi where the Pakistani government granted a charter to the proposed university...