Early talks focus on private support to link programs, regions
By KAREN AYRES SMITH
Leaders of the University of North Texas are considering launching a center for Islamic studies on campus in hopes of fostering a greater connection to the Muslim world for students and scholars.
UNT president Gretchen Bataille said officials are exploring the level of interest among supporters because the university would need to raise private funds to pay for the center. She stressed that talks are very preliminary.
Such a center, Dr. Bataille said, would help connect the university's existing programs in the Arabic language, Islamic studies and other areas. It could also allow students and staff to work with scholars from the Middle East.
In today's political climate, the university needs to be aware of ideological issues, she said.
"The important thing is that these are not religious or political entities. They are academic entities," Dr. Bataille said. "It's very important that these not be organizations that are promoting an ideology that is a litmus test for anyone who participates. We can't be beholden to a funding source who expects us to promote one or another ideology."
She said she was approached about the idea of an Islamic studies center during a recent meeting with a Muslim women's organization. Since joining UNT last year, Dr. Bataille has pressed to create an international focus for the university.
The university already has strong ties abroad.
Adel al-Jubeir, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States, graduated from UNT in 1982 with a political science degree. In August, educators from Saudi Arabia visited UNT to learn about public education in the United States. The ambassador also hosted a reception for Dr. Bataille to visit with alumni in Washington, D.C.
UNT provides master's degrees and doctoral degrees for members of Turkey's national police force. The university has other agreements for programs in Thailand, Mexico and Hong Kong.
"All these pieces together make us a very likely candidate for that type of center," Dr. Bataille said.
Earl Gibbons, the university's vice provost and associate vice president for international education, said an Islamic studies center would not offer degrees but would serve as an umbrella for courses from different departments.
"We are very committed to creating some sort of institution to increase what we do in terms of not just the Islamic world, but the Arab world," he said. "It's a very important region of the world for us."
The university would need an endowment of at least several million dollars to hire staff to start the center. Initial funds would focus on programming, not a building to house the center, Dr. Gibbons said.
Some funds would go toward interactive technology that would connect the center with scholars in the Middle East, he said. There is currently no timeline for starting the center.
"The goal is equally to make people in those societies have a more sophisticated and detailed understanding of what the United States is about and what ordinary American people are about, just as we would want to have a better understanding of them," Dr. Gibbons said. "We all strongly believe that enhances the likelihood of people getting along."
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