July 15, 2025
Read the full report: https://meforum.org/georgetown
WASHINGTON, D.C. – As lawmakers grilled Georgetown University about anti-semitism on the campus, the CLARITy Coalition, a network of Muslims, ex-Muslims and allies opposed to the threat of political Islam in America, said the country must confront the deeper issue of foreign-funded Islamist influence infiltrating U.S. academic institutions under the guise of interfaith dialogue and diversity.
A groundbreaking investigation, “Beachhead: Georgetown U.,” reveals how Georgetown University’s Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding has been funded, staffed and influenced by foreign regimes and Islamist networks tied to terror financing, including the Safa Network, based in Herndon, Va., with funding and ties to Qatar, Turkey and Malaysia.
Produced by the Middle East Forum, the Pearl Project, a nonprofit journalism initiative, and the CLARITy Coalition, the report shows how Islamists are infiltrating American policy and education systems with extremist ideology.
At the hearing of the House Committee on Education and Workforce, Georgetown said that it removed a controversial Islamist professor, Jonathan Brown, from his job as as chair of the Islamic studies department. Brown had called for a strike against U.S. forces by Iran.
“Georgetown University may have removed Jonathan Brown from an administrative post, but let’s be clear, he still holds a significant position and influence on campus,” said Zuhdi Jasser, codirector of the CLARITy Coalition. “This isn’t accountability. It’s damage control. The university hasn’t cleaned house—it’s just rearranged the furniture.”
The report warned of a wide ideological capture of Georgetown by Islamists.
“This is not academic freedom. This is foreign ideological warfare,” said journalist and co-author Asra Q. Nomani, a cofounder of the Clarity Coalition. “We’re witnessing a dangerous trend in which Islamist regimes are using American universities as platforms to legitimize and spread their extremist ideologies—undermining our national values, threatening Jewish students, and compromising the integrity of higher education. The American people deserve full transparency and accountability from the institutions entrusted with shaping future leaders.”
Report co-author Sam Westrop, a researcher at Middle East Forum and a member at the CLARITy Coalition, said, “The Safa Network spent years buying influence at major universities close to D.C. These terror-tied radicals, closely linked to autocratic foreign regimes, seized control of one of America’s leading academic institutions, through which they have shaped generations of academics, diplomats, intelligence officers, and policymakers.”
Key Findings:
The report urges Congress and the Department of Justice to investigate, cut public funding, and enforce the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).
