Open Letter to President Obama in Support of the Egyptian People

Dear President Obama:

As political scientists, historians, and researchers in related fields who have studied the Middle East and U.S. foreign policy, we the undersigned believe you have a chance to move beyond rhetoric to support the democratic movement sweeping over Egypt. As citizens, we expect our president to uphold those values.

For thirty years, our government has spent billions of dollars to help build and sustain the system the Egyptian people are now trying to dismantle. Tens if not hundreds of thousands of demonstrators in Egypt and around the world have spoken. We believe their message is bold and clear: Mubarak should resign from office and allow Egyptians to establish a new government free of his and his family’s influence. It is also clear to us that if you seek, as you said Friday “political, social, and economic reforms that meet the aspirations of the Egyptian people,” your administration should publicly acknowledge those reforms will not be advanced by Mubarak or any of his adjutants.

There is another lesson from this crisis, a lesson not for the Egyptian government but for our own. In order for the United States to stand with the Egyptian people it must approach Egypt through a framework of shared values and hopes, not the prism of geostrategy. On Friday you rightly said that “suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away.” For that reason we urge your administration to seize this chance, turn away from the policies that brought us here, and embark on a new course toward peace, democracy and prosperity for the people of the Middle East. And we call on you to undertake a comprehensive review of US foreign policy on the major grievances voiced by the democratic opposition in Egypt and all other societies of the region.

Sincerely, 

[Political scientists, historians, and researchers in related fields who wish to sign the petition can do so at: http://www.petitiononline.com/egyltr/petition.html ]

Initial Signatories

Jason Brownlee, University of Texas at Austin 

Joshua Stacher, Kent State University 

Tamir Moustafa, Simon Fraser University 

Arang Keshavarzian, New York University 

Clement Henry, University of Texas at Austin 

Robert Springborg, Naval Postgraduate School 

Jillian Schwedler, University of Massachusetts at Amherst 

Noam Chomsky, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 

Chris Toensing, Middle East Research and Information Project 

Ellen Lust, Yale University 

Helga Tawil-Souri, New York University 

Anne Mariel Peters, Wesleyan College 

Gregory White, Smith College 

Asef Bayat, University of Illinois 

Diane Singerman, American University 

Cathy Lisa Schneider, American University 

Robert Vitalis, University of Pennsylvania 

Ahmet T. Kuru San Diego State University 

Toby Jones, Rutgers University 

Lara Deeb, Scripps College 

Michaelle Browers, Wake Forest University 

Mark Gasiorowski, Louisiana State University 

Samer Shehata, Georgetown University 

Farideh Farhi, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa 

Emad Shahin, University of Notre Dame 

John P. Entelis, Fordham University 

Tamara Sonn, College of William & Mary 

Ali Mirsepassi, New York University 

Kumru Toktamis, Pratt Institute 

Rebecca C. Johnson, Northwestern University 

Nader Hashemi, University of Denver 

Carlene J. Edie, University of Massachusetts at Amherst 

Laryssa Chomiak, University of Maryland 

Mohamed Nimer, American University 

Steven Heydemann, Georgetown University 

Miriam Lowi, The College of New Jersey 

Wendy Pearlman, Northwestern University 

Hesham Sallam, Georgetown University 

Melani Cammett, Brown University 

Michael Robbins, University of Michigan 

Katherine E. Hoffman, Northwestern University 

Asli Bali, UCLA School of Law 

Hamid Dabashi, Columbia University 

Guilain Denoeux, Colby College 

Tom Farer, University of Denver 

Norma Claire Moruzzi, University of Illinois at Chicago 

Saad Eddin Ibrahim, American University of Cairo & Drew University 

Asma Barlas, Ithaca College 

Ethel Brooks, Rutgers University 

Maren Milligan, Oberlin College 

Alan Gilbert, Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver 

Glenn Robinson, Naval Postgraduate School 

Ahmed Ragab, Harvard University 

Kenneth M. Cuno, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 

Agnieszka Paczynska, George Mason University 

Zillah Eisenstein, Ithaca College 

Quinn Mecham, Middlebury College 

Riahi Hamida, Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences Sousse Tunisia 

Jeannie Sowers, University of New Hampshire 

Hussein Banai, Brown University 

Joel Gordon, University of Arkansas-Fayetteville 

Ed Webb, Dickinson College 

David Siddhartha Patel, Cornell University 

Bassam Haddad, George Mason University

Thomas Pierret, Princeton University 

Nadine Naber, University of Michigan 

As`ad AbuKhalil, California State University at Stanislaus 

Dina Al-Kassim, University of California at Irvine 

Ziad Fahmy, Cornell University 

William B. Quandt, University of Virginia 

Lori A. Allen, University of Cambridge 

Eugene Sensenig-Dabbous, Notre Dame University Lebanon 

Alfred G. Gerteiny, University of Connecticut (ret.) 

Lucia Volk, San Francisco State University 

Anne Marie Baylouny, Naval Postgraduate School 

Ulrika Mårtensson, The Norwegian University of Science and Technology 

Emma Deputy, University of Texas at Austin 

Sherry Lowrance, University of Georgia 

Kaveh Ehsani, DePaul University 

Ebrahim Moosa, Duke University 

Benjamin N. Schiff, Oberlin College 

Jeff Goodwin, New York University 

Margaret Scott, New York University (adjunct) 

Mehrzad Boroujerdi, Syracuse University 

Kevin M. DeJesus, York University, Toronto 

Courtney C. Radsch, American University 

Gamze Cavdar, Colorado State University 

John F. Robertson, Central Michigan University

Amir Niknejad, College of Mount Saint Vincent

Mehdi Noorbaksh, Harrisburg University of Science and Technology

Anthony Tirado Chase, Occidental College

Russell E. Lucas, Florida International University

Ariel Saizmann, Queen’s University

Patrick Kane, Clatsop Community College

Behrooz Moazami, Loyola University New Orleans

Anthony Shenoda, Scripps College

Mark Allen Peterson, Miami University

Amel Ahmed, University of Massachusetts-Amherst

Ilana Feldman, George Washington University

Marwan M. Kraidy, University of Pennsylvania

Mohamad Daadaoui, Oklahoma City University

Sidney Tarrow, Cornell University

Nathalie Peutz, New York University Abu Dhabi

Kamran Rastegar, Tufts University

Najib Ghadbian, University of Arkansas

Mojtaba Mahdavi, University of Alberta, Canada

Stefanie Nanes, Hofstra University

Rochelle Davis, Georgetown University

Zeinab Abul-Magd, Oberlin College

Stephen Zunes, University of San Francisco

Andrea Teti, University of Aberdeen

Denise M. Walsh, University of Virginia

Frances S. Hasso, Duke University

Waad El Hadidy, New York University

Elliot Colla, Georgetown University

Monika Halkort, Queen’s University

Sonia Alvarez, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Christa Salamandra, City University of New York

Shirin Saeidi, Cambridge University

Shiera Malik, DePaul University

Steve Tamari, Southern Illinois University

Sean Yom, Temple University

Ali Banuazizi, Boston College

Sinan Antoon, New York University

Moustafa Bayoumi, City University of New York

Jennifer Derr, Bard College

Mirjam Künkler, Princeton University Wilson

Jacob, Concordia University, Montreal

Alan Mikhail, Yale University

Narges Erami, Yale University

Gwenn Okruhlik, Trinity University

Pete Moore, Case Western Reserve University

Max Weiss, Princeton University

Margaret Susan Thompson, Syracuse University

Sarah Shields, University of North Carolina

Sonia Alcarez, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Roberto Alejandro, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Manal Jamal, James Madison University

Jason Stearns, New York University

Nicholas Xenos, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Rebecca Hopkins, University of Texas Austin

John Calvert, Creighton University

Nir Rosen, New York University

Ian Lustik, University of Pennsylvania

[Institutional affiliations are listed for identification purposes only. Views reflected in this letter are those of the individual signatories. Political scientists, historians, and researchers in related fields who wish to sign the petition can do so at: http://www.petitiononline.com/egyltr/petition.html ]