Professors Jenson & Podur: Dr. Mumtaz's response

Dr. Mumtaz Ahmad sent us the following message in response to the comments posted by one reader regarding this post. Dr. Mumtaz writes:

"Greetings: I read the comments by one of your readers on the IIU-I visit by Professor Jenson and Professor Podur and wish to make the following clarifications for your readers:

1. Both gentlemen lectured and taught courses at IIU entirely on voluntary basis on my request and were not paid a single penny as compensation. Both of them either teach some summer courses at their schools (for which they are paid thousands of dollars in addition to their annual salaries) or are engaged in some other paid research projects. They decided to forego these money-making opportunities only to be of some service to the students at IIu-I on my request. It was their committment to service that I appealed to and they responded graciously.

2. They are not "leftists" as your readers describe them. They are radical critics of the US domestic power structure and the US foreign policies; their committment is to social justice, peace, and equal distribution of international economic resources; both of them believe in the mobilization of spiritual resources and religious faith in bringing about a hust social order.

3. Your reader probably is not aware that their courses were open to ALL students and faculty of IIU, regardless of what faculties they belonged to. The deans of all faculties and chairmen of all departments were notifies and requested to encourage their students to enroll (or simply attend) their courses.

4. Your reader is also not aware that both Prof. Jenson's and Prof. Podur's visits and their respective courses and other programs were fully coordinated well in advance of their arrival with the relevant departments. The entire program of Prof. Jenson was chalked out and finalized by the Centre for Media Studies of the IIU and they had the fullest autonomy to use his time at the IIU as they deemed fit.

5. The idea behind inviting them was to provide the IIU community with a perspective (or perspectives) that are not ususally represented at the IIU and to familiarize the students with the current debates on media, ethics, globalization, environmental concerns, international developments, and allow them an opportunity to share their (students') thoughts and critiques on these issues. No indoctination was intended, and the students' participation in the class discussions was indicative of their crtical appreciation of what they heard from the guest speakers.

6. A few words about the speakers who were invited last year: Contrary to what your reader writes, they did not represent a single point of view. The only common thing between them is the quality of their scholarship in their respective fields. Ebrahim Moosa is a scholar of Islamic intellectual history; Farid Essack is a Quran scholar; Salman Seyyed is a political sociologist; As'ad Abu Khalil is a political scientist who specializes in the Middle East politics. And their intellectual approaches are not necessarily alike.

7. On a personal note: Junaid completed his JD degree from William & Mary in May and was scheduled to go to Cape Town on a fellowship. I persuaded him to postpone his trip to South Africa for a month and help me and the IIU to coordinate the guest speakers' programs with the IIU administration as a facilitator on my and the IIU behalf. I paid his air fare from the US to Pakistan from my own pocket; he used my personal car in most cases; and he was not paid a single penny on any account by the IIU. The only IIU compensation for him was that he was invited to join the guest speakers in the farewell dinner that the Rector gave to them on July 16. In fact, he had to spend substantial amount of money from his own resources to be in Pakistan for a month and forego the one-month stipend that he would have received from his sponsors at the University of Cape Town. He worked almost 10-12 hours a day running around from home (45 Km from the IIU) to the old and new campuses. Your reader should have been a little more understanding on this count at least.

Mumtaz Ahmad
Professor of Political Science Hampton University Hampton, VA 23668Phone: 757-727-5619"