After Sept. 11, the public turned towards America’s top colleges and universities to answer a firestorm of questions about the Middle East.

But what they found at Harvard was a department more experienced in classical Arabic than in studying terrorism.

“Sept. 11 thrust Middle Eastern Studies into the center of things, and we’ve never been there before,” says William E. Granara, director of undergraduate studies in the department of Near Eastern languages and civilizations (NELC).

Although uncomfortably bright for some in this small area of study, the recent spotlight offers an opportunity—and a need—to examine and reevaluate Middle Eastern studies.

Scholars in the field say it must be reoriented—from its current focus on classical studies to one more centered around the modern Middle East.

Harvard, with its myriad resources and long tradition of study in the field, is well positioned to pioneer this transition, professors say.

But despite the opportunity offered by the current political and academic climate, Harvard is doing relatively less than its peers to recruit top-notch Middle Eastern scholars.

While Princeton has articulated its desire to modernize its program and Columbia and New York University (NYU) have beefed up their faculties with numerous recent hires, Harvard has taken few concrete steps to follow suit.

“We aren’t bad, but we are not all that we could be,” Granara says about Middle Eastern studies at Harvard.

Not Ready To Lead

Harvard and Princeton enter the race to become the leading institution in Middle Eastern studies with a clear advantage, Granara says, citing Harvard’s extensive resources, including its Middle Eastern library, which he says is one of the best in the world.

Harvard also boasts one of the best programs for the study of Middle Eastern languages, NELC. The University is known to have the best Hebrew bible program in the world, according to Granara.

Also, the Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES) at Harvard, established in 1954, brings together twenty faculty and 100 graduate students to study Middle East-related fields.

“Harvard has the potential to be number one or at least tied with Princeton in overall Middle Eastern studies,” says Eva Bellin ’80, associate professor of government at Harvard.

Unfortunately, Harvard lacks the faculty to take the lead.