The Committee on Academic Freedom (CAF) seeks to foster the free exchange of knowledge as a human right and to inhibit infringements on that right by government restrictions on scholars. The United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights provide the principal standards by which human rights violations are identified today. Those rights include the right to education and work, freedom of movement and residence, and freedom of association and assembly.

Through the Committee on Academic Freedom, MESA monitors infringements on academic freedom on the Middle East and North Africa world wide. Such infringements include governmental refusal to allow scholars to conduct scholarly research, publish their findings, deliver academic lectures, and travel to international scholarly meetings. The Committee documents instances where professors and academic researchers in all disciplines are persecuted for their peaceful professional or personal activities, particularly when engaged in activities to ensure respect for human rights. The Committee documents such violations as government revocation of academic degrees; demotion or dismissal; denial of a petition to emigrate, travel abroad or return to one’s country of origin; and arrest, arbitrary detention, disappearance, and extrajudicial killing.

The Committee obtains information on human rights violations directly from the concerned persons, from their professional associates, or from reputable third parties. Evaluation of requests for action may be coordinated with other professional organizations, such as the Science and Human Rights Program of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Once case information is compiled, the Committee decides on the action to be taken. The Committee may write a letter of inquiry to the appropriate authorities and, if necessary, follow up with additional letters. If the Committee deems appropriate additional activities, such as representations to embassies or visits to detainees, authorization for incurring related expenses must be obtained from the MESA Board of Directors. When possible, such activities are undertaken in coordination with other scholarly associations. Given the limited time and resources of the Committee, only the most egregious cases of human rights violations can be considered.

The members of the Committee are appointed by the President of MESA upon the recommendation of the Board of Directors. The Committee consists of a chair; two co-chairs (one for the MENA region, the other for North America); ten members covering the MENA region; five focusing on AF issues in North America; and 3ex-officio members (MESA's President and Executive Director, and a member of MESA's Committee on Public Affairs). CAF's previous chair serves as a consultant to the committee.

The Committee convenes in a formal session once a year at the annual meeting of MESA. Members maintain close contact between sessions and can take up new cases at any time during the year. Correspondence and administration for the Committee are handled by the MESA Secretariat. Letters of inquiry and concern may be signed by either the President or the Executive Director of MESA, as deemed appropriate.

Committee Members 
Laurie Brand (chair)
University of Southern California
Dept. of International Relations
Los Angeles CA 90089
213 740–3651; fax 213 742–0281
brand@usc.edu

Mervat Hatem (ex-officio)
MESA President
Howard University
Department of Political Science
Washingrton DC
fax 202 243-0610
mhatem@howard.edu

Amy W. Newhall (ex officio)
Executive Director, MESA
1219 N Santa Rita Ave
The University of Arizona
Tucson AZ 85721
520 621–5851; fax 520 626–9095
newhall@u.arizona.edu

Joe Stork (consultant)
Human Rights Watch, Middle East
1630 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 500
Washington DC 20009
202 612-4321; fax 202 612-4333
storkj@hrw.org

CAF-NA (Covering North America)
Zachary Lockman (chair)
New York University
Dept of Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies
50 Washington Square South
New York NY 10012
212 998-8884; fax 212 995-4689
zachary.lockman@nyu.edu

Lori Allen
University of Cambridge
Faculty of Asian & Middle East Studies
Sidgwick Avenue
Cambridge CB3 9DA UK
+44-1223-335129;  fax +44-1223-335110
laa29@cam.ac.uk

Jere Bacharach
University of Washington
PO Box 353560
Department of History
Seattle WA 98195
206 543-5790; fax 206 543-9451
jere@u.washington.edu

Juan Cole
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Dept. of History
1029 Tisch
Ann Arbor MI 48109
734 764–6305; fax 734 647–4881
jrcole@umich.edu

Beshara Doumani
University of California, Berkeley
Dept. of History
3229 Dwinelle Hall
Berkeley CA 94720
510 643–3147; fax 510 643–5323
bdoumani@berkeley.edu

Mary Ann Fay
Morgan State University
Dept. of History
1700 E. Cold Spring Lane
Baltimore MD 21251
443 885-1784
fay_mary_ann2@msn.com

Steven Heydemann
US Institute of Peace
1200 17th Street, NW
Washington DC 20036
202 429-4715
sheydemann@usip.org

Mark LeVine
University of California, Irvine
Dept of History
200 Krieger Hall
Irvine, CA 92697
949 824-8304; fax 949 824-2865
mlevine@uci.edu

Ussama Makdisi
Arab American Educational Foundation, Chair of Arab Studies
Rice University
Dept. of History, MS-42
PO Box 1892
Houston TX 77251
713 348–2561; fax 713 348–5207
makdisi@rice.edu


CAF-MENA (Covering the Middle East & North Africa Region)
Nathan Brown (chair)
George Washington University
Dept. of Political Science
Old Main 414E
Washington DC 20052
202 939-2277; fax 703 796-6649
nbrown@gwu.edu

Magnus Bernhardsson
Department of History
Williams College
Williamstown, MA 01267
413-597-2223
Magnus.T.Bernhardsson@Williams.edu
 
Donna Lee Bowen
Brigham Young University
Dept. of Political Science
734 Kimball Tower
Provo UT 84602
801 422-3409; fax 801 422-0580
donna_bowen@byu.edu

Charles Butterworth
3140 Tydings Hall
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
301 405-4110; fax 301 314-9690
cebworth@gvpt.umd.edu

Mona El-Ghobashy
Barnard College
Dept. of Political Science
3009 Broadway
New York NY 10027-6598
212 854-3779; fax 212 854-3024
melghoba@barnard.edu

Khaled Fahmy
Dept of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies
New York University
50 Washington Square South,
New York, NY 10012
212 998-8896; fax 212 995-4689
khaled.fahmy@nyu.edu

Afshin Marashi
California State University, Sacramento
Dept. of History
6000 J St.
Sacramento CA 95819
916 278–6465; fax 916 278–7476
amarashi@csus.edu

Marcie Patton
Fairfield University
Dept. of Politics
1073 N Benson Rd
Fairfield CT 06824
203 254–4000 X 2649; fax 203 254–4074
mpatton309@sbcglobal.net

Shira Robinson
George Washington University
Dept of History
Phillips Hall 335
Washington DC 20052
202-994-2457
snrobins@gwu.edu

Geoffrey D. Schad
Albright College
Dept of History
13th & Bern Streets
Reading PA 19612-5234
610 929-6733; fax 610 921-7683
geoffrey.schad@villanova.edu

Gershon Shafir
University of California at San Diego
Dept. of Sociology 0533
La Jolla CA 92093-0533
858 534–2575; fax 858 534–4753
gshafir@ucsd.edu

Mary Ann Tetreault
Trinity University
Dept.  of Political Science
715 Stadium Dr
San Antonio TX 78212
210 999–8339; fax 210 999–8320
moontyger@earthlink.net

Yektan Turkyilmaz
Duke University
Cultural Anthropology
PO Box 90091
Durham NC 27708
919 699–6720; fax 919 681–8483
yt8@duke.edu