College and University Monitor

When Columbia University's Center for Palestine Studies was established in 2010, Rashid Khalidi, its founding and current director — and a supporter of an academic boycott of Israel — stated that steering clear of political activism was an important goal of the center:

"The last thing you want is a Middle East institute or a center for Israel or Palestine that isn't within the university mission. . . . We'd avoid doing anything that's directly related to any political activism."