OPINION:
Cheryl K. Chumley’s recent op-ed, “Qatar is donating big to U.S. universities, and that’s a real problem” (Web, Jan. 9), reads like a checklist of talking points shared by bad actors who for years have spread disinformation about Qatar’s education partnerships.
Their aim is to disrupt the ongoing Qatar-U.S. mediation efforts to end the war in the Gaza Strip and undermine relations between the two countries. Thankfully, their campaign has failed to gain traction, and the Qatar-U.S. partnership remains as strong as ever.
Ms. Chumley deliberately misrepresents data released earlier this month by the Education Department and claims Qatari funding influences academia and fuels protests on American campuses. This is patently false. Student protests in the U.S. have nothing to do with the U.S.-Qatar educational partnership, and we’ve never interfered with academic content or curriculum.
In fact, none of Qatar’s funding is spent inside the United States. It supports American university branch campuses in Qatar through Qatar Foundation, expanding educational opportunities for students in Qatar and the region through U.S.-accredited programs and promoting cultural exchange between our two countries.
These universities operate with full independence and autonomy, and their presence in Doha has had a greater impact on Qatari society than any influence on university life in the United States.
Qatar’s funding covers the operating costs of these campuses: faculty and staff salaries, equipment, student services and more incurred in Qatar, not the United States. Long before the latest data release, Qatar’s funding was regularly reported to the Education Department.
By promoting falsehoods and repeating equally baseless claims that Qatar supports or funds Hamas, Ms. Chumley seeks to turn American politicians and the public against Qatar. Like other bad actors driving this disinformation campaign, she conveniently omits that all Qatari assistance to Gaza has been strictly humanitarian aid delivered to civilians, coordinated with the Israeli and U.S. governments and approved and delivered by Israel across multiple governments over the years.
The inconvenient truth is that Qatar’s close cooperation with the U.S. to advance peace and stability in the Middle East and other conflict zones will continue unhindered, and attempts to discredit Qatar through distortion and disinformation will fail.
ALI ANSARI
Media attache, Embassy of Qatar
Washington
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