NON-PROFIT GROUP SUES UM OFFICIALS FOR SABOTAGING AN EXCHANGE PROGRAM WITH EGYPT’S AL AZHAR UNIVERSITY

At a time when it is crucial to establish good relations with moderate voices in the Islamic world, the Washington based non-profit, World Leadership Program Institute, worked to establish an exchange of scholars between Egypt’s preeminent Islamic University, Al Azhar and young theological students from many faiths in America.That program was to be established at the University of Michigan. After signing contracts to host the exchange program, University officials abruptly pulled out of the agreements at the last minute, leading organizers to scramble to move the program to Georgetown University. Organizers were able to pull off a successful conference at Georgetown but the last minute scramble and additional expenses soured the relationship between the non-profit and the sponsor so what was supposed to be an ongoing exchange program became a one-and-done conference. The University of Michigan still pocketed approximately $300,000 despite pulling out of the agreements.

The World Leadership Program Institute has filed a lawsuit against the University of Michigan officials who sabotaged the program, alleging breach of contract and fraud[1].

The exchange program showed great promise and was supported by senior White House officials. The Los Angeles Times wrote about the conference[2];

• “Fifteen young American religious scholars and 14 teaching assistants from Al Azhar University, one of the oldest and most influential Islamic institutions in the world, spent two weeks together this month at Georgetown University in an attempt to bridge the divide between the Muslim world and the United States.”
• “I met people that I love, and I consider them as my brother, my sister, my mother,” said Ibrahim Elbaz, 30, from Mansoura, Egypt.
• The American and Egyptian students spent eight to nine hours in class each day and lived together in Georgetown dorms. The Americans included members of the Jewish, Buddhist and Christian faiths.
• At the end of the first week, the Americans joined the Egyptians in prayer, deepening the friendships, said Waltrina Middleton, 30, a recent graduate of Chicago Theological Seminary.
• “After that I felt like so much had been lifted; it helped us not be afraid,” Middleton said, her eyes brimming with tears. “The imam opened the prayer in Arabic, but it didn’t matter. They say ‘Allah,’ I say ‘God’ — you know when a prayer is being lifted up.”

Other Islamic scholars at prominent American Universities expressed their hopes for such exchange programs;

• Jocelyne Cesari, director of the Islam in the West Program at Harvard and Johns Hopkins universities, said in a telephone interview that she is encouraged that Al Azhar is reaching out, but she said that it is important for the United States to respond in kind.
• “If it’s just a one-way initiative, it will bring forth a strong narrative among Muslim society of being the one always making the effort to understand the other,” she said.
• Raquel Ukeles, the program’s academic director, said she designed the curriculum to resolve a conflicted relationship many Muslims have with America.

The World Leadership Program Institute alleges in their press release[3] that;

• The lawsuit involves a program of the Clinton Global Initiative and funded by the UAE against University of Michigan faculty Mark Tessler, Sherman Jackson (now at USC), Nancy Barnes and a Center for Political Studies employee, Dave Howell with fraud, for accepting over $2 million by false promises and for the wrongful misappropriation of funds over their dealings with an international exchange program – the World Leadership Program – created to foster dialogue for the next generation religious leaders from the Middle East and the United States.
• They destroyed a vital peace-building program that was highlighted by numerous senior U.S. officials and announced by the Clinton Global Initiative. They also damaged their own reputations and UM among key leaders in the Middle East and among U.S. Government officials tasked with developing such exchange programs.

Attempts to negotiate a settlement with the University have been rebuffed[4],[5],[6].

The court will decide what responsibility these University officials have for the failure of this promising initiative but the world would have been better off had it succeeded in improving relations between these very important religious faiths.