Emory, keep making progress for Middle Eastern and North African representation

Emory Admissions Building. (The Emory Wheel/Matthew Friedman, contributing writer)

At the beginning of the semester, Associate Professor of Anthropology Sa’ed Atshan earned tenure from the Emory Board of Trustees after only one semester at Emory.

Atshan’s tenuring marks many firsts for the University. A proud Palestinian and openly queer professor, his research focuses on combined identities, as well as on LGBTQI+ issues in Palestine. Atshan’s tenure came during the first semester of his professorship, a stunning recognition of forefront contributions to his field. Emory’s hiring and tenuring of Atshan demonstrates a commendable step in diversity and supporting all voices in academia. Yet, Atshan’s tenure sheds light on the lack of representation in academia. Emory should amplify their efforts promoting the inclusion of students and professors from Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) backgrounds.

“What gives me hope is that there are really wonderful people across the academy who are challenging [marginalization] and who are insisting that we have the right to speak, to be treated with respect and to be first class citizens in our home institutions,” Atshan said in an interview with the Wheel.

The inclusion of diverse voices has led to breakthroughs in academia on issues related to cultural understanding. The term MENA refers to the region encompassing the lands of Morocco to Iran, and the term exemplifies new academic developments about perceptions of the area. These developments are central to advancing our knowledge of the rich cultures and ethnicities that compose this vast region. Moreover, the progress promoted by better understanding of cultures around the world may only be inclusive if there is an accurate representation of people from all parts of the world.

Despite increased understanding of MENA, organizations and events typically organize on the basis of religion, race or ethnic background at Emory. However, there is no unifying organization on Emory’s campus that encompasses the MENA region as a whole. Such a discrepancy leaves students from a vast region with a lesser sense of community compared to other minority groups. Emory should expand upon its steps toward greater inclusivity by fostering an environment for those with shared MENA backgrounds to find community.

Fostering this environment starts with the basics: the University should know how many MENA students there are by asking the question in undergraduate admissions. In accordance with United States Census practices, Emory neither asks students if they identify as being from the MENA region nor tracks Arab/non-Arab status according to the Office of the Registrar. If Emory does not collect this data, it is nearly impossible to understand if MENA students are represented on campus.

While academic spaces often lack diversity, Emory’s steps in the right direction warrant praise. But diversity doesn’t always mean inclusion. To do so, Emory should establish an identity space for MENA students. Various marginalized groups already have them, including women, Asian and LGBTQ+ students. An identity space would increase the visibility of these students to the larger community while providing MENA students a space to collectively embrace their identity, host cultural events and participate in experience-sharing activities. Peer institutions, such as the University of Southern California, already have identity spaces serving the MENA student community. Emory should follow suit.

When academia diversifies, everyone wins. Though Atshan’s case warrants commendation and optimism, his situation is the exception and not the rule among academic settings. Despite Emory’s incredibly diverse student body, more can still be done to support the MENA community. The University should hire more professors from the MENA region who also specialize in the field to create an academic space for more in-depth scholarship; meanwhile, the University should take greater action to represent MENA students and provide them with space to embrace their identity. To extend the space dedicated to these students, there should also be a physical identity space added in a University building.

These steps are but modest actions to demonstrate the University’s commitment to MENA community members, and there should be an ongoing discussion of how to advance academic opportunities for this community in the future.

The above editorial represents the majority opinion of the Wheel’s Editorial Board. The Editorial Board is composed of Rachel Broun, Jake Busch, Kyle Chan-Shue, Sophia Ling, Demetrios Mammas, Daniel Matin, Daniela Parra del Riego Valencia, Sara Perez, Ben Thomas, Chaya Tong and Leah Woldai.