A dispute at the University of Texas in Austin between the school’s history department and its Center for Middle Eastern Studies over the appointment of an Israeli-born historian has been settled with the Israeli joining the university’s faculty for the 1980 spring term, the American Jewish Committee reported.
Sheba Mittelman, a member of the AJ Committee’s special programs department, said that Abraham Marcus, a 31-year-old Tel Aviv University graduate now completing work on a doctorate at Columbia University, will join the university’s history faculty and will be listed in the catalogue of the Mideast Center. She said that Marcus, whose field is modern Arab history, is satisfied with the outcome and will go to Austin in January.
The dispute began when the history department, which was asked by the Center to find a historian to be jointly appointed by the department and the Center, recommended Marcus. The Center, which is partially funded by Arab governments, said Marcus was not qualified, a claim that was disputed by the history department. The department said Marcus was a qualified scholar of great promise. Marcus never participated in the public dispute about the appointment which broke out last May.
The AJ Committee has been monitoring the dispute. Its special programs department, headed by Ira Silverman, last March proposed guidelines for American colleges and universities receiving funds from foreign sources, especially Arab countries. The Center reportedly receives about $100,000 a year from Arab governments.
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