March 12, 2006

To Whom It May Concern:

I felt prompted to write this letter in response to the recent inclusion of dr. miriam cooke in the list of the ‘101 Most Dangerous Professors in America’ published by frontpage.com. I was confused and concerned by the inclusion of dr. cooke, currently a professor in the Duke University Asian and African Languages and Literatures Department, in this list, and the accompanying articles on that webpage that feature her. These articles fall between one-sided and outrightly false when describing dr. cooke, her views and her activities, and I would like to add my voice on this topic in hopes that it might counterbalance some of the arguments being made against her.

I am a recent graduate of Duke, double-majoring in History and Asian and African Languages and Literatures (with a dual concentration in Chinese and Arabic, dr. cooke’s area of concentration). I got to know dr. cooke through formal coursework at Duke, as well as participation in a summer study-abroad program that she co-directed. I also was privileged to have dr. cooke’s help with some personal research that I was conducting during the summer of 2004, and was later asked to help her with a research project during the summer of 2005. I am in continuous contact with dr. cooke now as we are both working in Indonesia on Fulbright Grants from the US Department of State.

In the various arenas in which I have interacted with dr. cooke, I have never found her to be an ideologue stifling any views that do not agree with hers. I have found, in fact, just the opposite; dr. cooke encourages students in her classes to actively defend their views wherever they lie on the spectrum, close to or far from her own. A few examples from my experience with her at Duke will serve to elucidate this assertion.

First, dr. cooke is open to all view points in the classroom. I experienced this very vividly during the summer study-abroad program mentioned above. The eighteen students on this program ranged from a card-carrying Republican and ROTC scholarship holders to active members of the Duke Progressive Alliance and a self-described ‘hippie.’ Naturally, this spread of viewpoints inspired some of the most engaging debate that I experienced during my four years at Duke, but none of this debate was stifled. Indeed, the class time was most generally split evenly between the two sides of an issue, even when the proponents of one side would greatly outnumber the other. I found out after the program that dr. cooke was not even aware of the political affiliation of the students who were traveling with us. One can only conclude that she was more focused on their ability to make and sustain arguments, as is appropriate for good pedagogy.

This sort of attitude has been confirmed for me in my academic exchanges with dr. cooke outside of the classroom. During the spring semester of 2004 I was chatting with dr. cooke in an informal setting about research that I wanted to do over the summer, and conversation drifted to religious topics. I asserted during that conversation a personal conviction that the Bible was the actual word of God and the sole and incontrovertible foundation for any true Christian religion. This is admittedly a rather strong assertion and one that dr. cooke did not share. She did not condemn the belief, though, and did not end our conversation because of my very different views of things. Furthermore, following that conversation she continued to go above and beyond the call of duty for a professor in meeting with me in her spare time to encourage and help me in research that was not formally under her supervision. This personal experience is a far cry from the ideologue depicted in recent accounts from frontpage.com.

Another powerful argument against the intellectual ‘danger’ that she poses to American society is seen in her academic appearances at Duke; she does not shun opportunities to present her views in forums of great diversity. In fact, more often than not in my experience, she seeks to add varying perspectives to her own when compiling course content or making a public appearance. For example, she recently co-designed and co-taught a course with an Israeli citizen and visiting Hebrew professor so as to provide students with a full range on debates on the issues of Israeli-Palestinian conflict being presented in the course. In another case where I attended a seminar on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, dr. cooke happily sat on a panel of seven including four Jewish professors, two of whom are Israeli citizens. Following panel presentations, one particularly spirited pro-Israel student accused dr. cooke of anti-Semitism, but her Jewish companions on the panel (who are also all professional friends and colleagues out of respect for her work) rushed to her defense, very rightly pointing out that questioning a government’s policies do not amount to hatred of that government’s ethnic majority. One can argue that if prof. cooke was seeking to brainwash students or unfairly advantage her side of the discourse then she would scorn events where opposing views have an equal chance to respond, but this is clearly not the case for miriam cooke.

Let me conclude with the contention that calling dr. cooke un-American crosses the border of being disingenuous into the realm of being somewhat ignorant. Setting aside for a moment her familial connections with those who have been in American government employ, dr. cooke is clearly not condemning the American system or fundamental way of life. Rather, she is providing a critique of policies that do not represent her views as an American and staying well within her limits and indeed obligations of intelligent disagreement with specific government actions. This sort of free thought and free speech is a pillar of the country, and it is curious to think that someone could construe it to be otherwise.

I hope that the specific anecdotes and observations I have presented here bring some clarity and perspective to the recent allegations made against dr. miriam cooke, a distinguished and respected scholar in her field. I further hope that future discussion of her as an academic and individual will include more of an even-handed perspective and proper respect for her knowledge and achievements.

Sincerely,

Kevin W. Fogg

Duke University Class of 2005