UC Berkeley administrators ignored reports yesterday that a campus Middle Eastern studies program has accepted significant funds from groups and individuals linked to terrorism by the US State Department.

The Center for Middle Eastern Studies runs two programs whose stated missions are to increase “understanding of Islam and of Muslim peoples and cultures in the United States and around the world.” But those programs are funded by a Saudi businessman and a member of the Saudi royal family who the State Department maintains are responsible for funneling money to groups that sponsor terrorism.

Vice Chair Emily Gottreich said the majority of the center’s funding comes from the US Department of Education, but university officials refused to turn budget documents to the Patriot yesterday.

“(The programs) are run by faculty committees with absolutely no obligation to, or oversight from, the donors in question,” Gottreich said, adding that the center also receives funding from the Diller Family Jewish Studies and Israeli Visiting Scholars Program. Helen Diller, benefactor of the program, has not been linked to terrorism

Reports of the connection between the UC Berkeley center’s funding and terrorism were first broken by the Berkeley Jewish Journal, a new UC Berkeley student magazine.

Gottreich attacked the writers of the article, calling them proponents of “the most extreme form of right-wing Zionism.”

But the editor of the Jewish magazine, Robert Enyati, criticized Gottreich’s “name calling,” saying it “very clearly shows the agenda of the institution.”

Firstly, this isn't really a surprise, Berkeley has been supporting terrorists for decades and I see no reason to be shocked that they're also taking money from them. Secondly, Vice-Chair Goebbels--sorry, Gettrich--is obviously a shrieking neo-Nazi hag. I assume that the world famous Berkeley tolerance will now evidence itself and the campus Left will rise up and hurl out this agent of intolerance from their midst. Needless to say, I'm not holding my breath on that one. Lastly, the time has cearly come when Berkeley should be given a choice: pack up and move to France or be shut down. I'm guessing they'll happily choose the former.