Kristen Magee/The Ithacan ROBERT OSTERGARD, assistant professor of politics, is trying to clear his name after a discussion in his SUNY Binghamton class landed him in the New York Post and the Web site www.campus-watch.org as an alleged anti-Semite.

After Sept. 11, 2001, many colleges formed classes dealing with terrorism, Islam and U.S. policy in the Middle East. The class at SUNY Binghamton taught by Robert Ostergard, also an assistant professor of politics at Ithaca College, garnered particular attention from students and an advocacy group.

Ostergard said his Spring 2002 class offered differing and balanced viewpoints on issues such as the rationale of terrorists, Israel’s policy toward the Palestinians and U.S. involvement in foreign governments.

He invited Ali Mazrui, director of the Institute for Global Cultural Studies and the Albert Schweitzer professor in the humanities at Binghamton, as a guest speaker in his class. After listening to Mazrui’s speech, many students angrily approached the two professors, complaining about the speech content.

“Unfortunately, the notion of academic discourse really started to fly out the window,” Ostergard said. “Some people took comments personally and began a heated debate.”

The controversy didn’t end there, Ostergard said. One student reported Ostergard to an online think tank, www.campus-watch.org.

The student, whom Web site founder Daniel Pipes would not name, accused Ostergard of converting his course into an “anti-Zionist platform.” The student contended that Mazrui’s lecture was a “45-minute diatribe against Israel.”

Pipes, who is also a columnist for the New York Post and The Jerusalem Post, directs Campus Watch and its sponsor, the Middle East Forum. His site compiles dossiers on professors who have been reported by students for their political views or classroom material.

Pipes said his organization is being patriotic by blacklisting professors.

“As the mission statement says, we are dedicated to defending the interests of America,” Pipes said. “Campus Watch wants to monitor, critique and improve Middle Eastern studies. Our goal is to get the faculty to shape up.”

Pipes included Ostergard in his June 25 New York Post article that condemned professors from several large universities for abusing their power over students. He said he chose to feature Ostergard’s class in his article after a student e-mailed him complaining about the Sept. 11-related class.

“The contents of what is said from the podium is his responsibility, whether or not he speaks or invites someone else is immaterial,” Pipes said. “He is the captain of that ship — what happens there is his responsibility.”

Several Ithaca College professors said they are concerned by the implications resulting from such a blacklist. Asma Barlas, associate professor and chairwoman of the Department of Politics, said the tactics used by organizations like the Middle East Forum trouble her.

“I feel that groups like Campus Watch are taking advantage of this general fear of international events, and playing on people’s insecurities in a very opportunistic manner,” Barlas said. “It’s not just a question of watching the campus, it’s putting in the minds of students a fear of these professors.

“This kind of fear mongering is basically meant to create an environment on campuses where there can be no free speech. How do I know that voicing my opinions will not put me on this group? It’s precisely this kind of McCarthyism that is most detrimental to being a good citizen of America.”

Ostergard is in good company, Barlas said. She said some of the professors on Pipes’ Web site are the nation’s foremost experts on Islam and the Middle East, whose ideas and opinions are well-respected within academia.

Sheila Musaji, editor of The American Muslim, wrote an editorial encouraging professors to add themselves to Pipes’ dossier. She said she is concerned with attempts to limit academic freedom.

“Academic freedom in universities is essential,” Musaji wrote. “Free speech is not simply an aspect of academic freedom to be weighed against other possibilities. It is the precondition for academic freedom. Professors and students must be able to exercise their legal rights as citizens and to express opinions whether or not they agree with the majority.”

Pipes published an article Tuesday in the New York Post, “Professors Who Hate America.” He called on college administrators to exercise control over their faculty.

“The time has come for adult supervision of the faculty and administrators at many American campuses,” Pipes wrote. “Especially as we are at war, the goal must be for universities to resume their civic responsibilities.”

He said it’s his right to engage his own freedom of speech by criticizing America’s faculty.

“We are a small think tank,” Pipes said. “We are not the FBI, we are not Congress, we are not threatening anyone, we are engaging in freedom of speech through criticism. This moaning and complaining doesn’t beseech the faculty.”

Ostergard said the implications arising from Pipes’ work are far-reaching and similar to McCarthyism.

“It’s chilling,” Ostergard said. “This fallout is something I’ve never, ever expected. To actually base public criticism on one course and one speaker is really a witchhunt.”