Why is the Mellon Foundation funding programs linked to a political and religious system that seeks to destroy Western civilization? A cultural and ideological contest is underway for the future of Western civilization. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation—long a champion of the humanities and an advocate for “social justice”—has directed substantial resources toward Islamic studies programs in higher education. These programs advance perspectives incompatible with core Western principles of free speech, religious liberty, equal rights for all citizens, and the rule of law.
Commentators such as Vince Coyner (American Thinker), Joel Richardson (Will Islam Be Our Future?), Imtiaz Mahmood, Craig Huey, and Daniel Greenfield have described Islam, in its classical and political forms, as expansionist, intolerant of apostasy and criticism, and hierarchical in its treatment of non-Muslims and women. Greenfield has highlighted large-scale violence attributed to Islamist actors that is sometimes reframed internationally as “decolonization” or resistance. Whether one accepts these characterizations or not, the question remains: why has Mellon, with its $7.7 billion endowment and stated commitment to elevating underrepresented perspectives, invested heavily in programs that normalize or advance such worldviews under the banner of the humanities?
Mellon Grants Supporting Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies
Mellon has funded numerous initiatives framed as advancing the study of Islam and Muslim communities in higher education. Selected examples include:
• Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies: Grants in 2000, 2010, and 2012 totaling approximately $870,000 for a digital multi-volume atlas of the social and intellectual history of the Islamic world.
• American University of Paris: $100,000 in 2007 for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies.
• Earlham College: $300,000 in 2008 to develop an Islamic Studies Program.
• Swarthmore, Bryn Mawr, and Haverford Colleges: $670,000 in 2005 for a Tri-College Islamic/Middle Eastern Studies Initiative.
• Lehigh University: $1.4 million in 2009 to establish an undergraduate program and Center for Global Islamic Studies, intended to “heighten awareness surrounding Islamic culture and civilization.”
• The University of Chicago: $600,000 in 2010 and an additional $800,000 in 2013 for an Islamic Studies Initiative aimed at raising the field’s profile as an interdisciplinary enterprise. F
• Duke University: $750,000 in 2012 supporting international and area studies centers, including Islamic Studies.
• Connecticut College: $100,000 planning grant (circa 2012) followed by an $806,000 renewal in 2018 for its Global Islamic Studies program. Faculty directors Sufia Uddin and Eileen Kane have spoken of “undoing” narratives that portray Muslims as violent or as security threats, partnering with fields focused on other “persecuted” groups.
• University of Michigan / Big Ten: $3 million in 2014 for the Islamic Studies Virtual Curriculum (later Digital Islamic Studies Curriculum), expanding shared courses across Big Ten institutions.
• University of Maryland: Approximately $1.75 million (2022–2025) for the Open Islamicate Texts Initiative, developing digital access to premodern manuscripts in Arabic, Persian, Ottoman Turkish, and Urdu.
• UCLA: $350,000 in 2019 for a pilot project reframing Middle Eastern studies.
• Syracuse University: $500,000 in 2022 for a project on “Black-Arab Relationalities.”
These grants are real and publicly documented. Mellon is thereby sponsoring a radical and violent political system.” Many of the funded programs are academic in form, and, in practice, support a significant number of faculty and campus environments that tilt heavily toward narratives that downplay or justify Islamist violence.
Hellbound and Down 