Qatar seethes as major American university pulls out

The Qatar Foundation Friday lashed out at Texas A&M University for its decision to phase out its presence in the Muslim country by 2028.

Texas A&M University (TAMU) is one of six universities — many of whom are Ivy League — which have established campuses in Qatar as part of large contracts with the Qatar Foundation.

Qatar, a rich country with a GNP of over $229 billion as of December 2022, is best known for owning the Al Jazeera network and serving as headquarters for the Muslim Brotherhood. Khaled Mashal and Ismail Haniyeh, who head the Muslim Brotherhood’s offshoot Hamas, live opulently in Qatar under the aegis of the country’s ruling Al Thani family.

In a 7-1 vote Thursday, TAMU’s Board of Regents decided to shut down its Qatari campus over the next four years.

“The Board has decided that the core mission of Texas A&M should be advanced primarily within Texas and the United States,” said Board Chairman Bill Mahomes. “By the middle of the 21^st century, the university will not necessarily need a campus infrastructure 8,000 miles away to support education and research collaborations.”

According to KAGS, Mahomes noted the intensifying political milieu in which Israel is fighting the Qatar-sponsored Hamas in Gaza and hostilities between the US and Iran, a Qatar ally, are deepening.

The Qatar Foundation (QF) reacted angrily to what it claimed was a “misguided decision” based on “disinformation.”

“The decision of Texas A&M University’s Board of Regents to end its partnership with Qatar Foundation (QF) has been influenced by a disinformation campaign aimed at harming the interests of QF,” the Qatar Foundation wrote on X Friday. “It is disturbing that this disinformation has become the determining factor in the decision and that it has been allowed to override the core principles of education and knowledge, with no consideration to the significant positive impact that this partnership has brought for both Qatar and the US.”

“It is deeply disappointing that a globally respected academic institution like Texas A&M University has fallen victim to such a campaign and allowed politics to infiltrate its decision-making processes,” the foundation continued. “At no point did the Board attempt to seek out the truth from Qatar Foundation before making this misguided decision.”

The Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development was created in 1995 by the Emir of Qatar. Because he set it up as a private nonprofit but still retains ownership, Qatar can invest in American universities without the restrictions that apply to governmental entities.

Through QF, America’s elite universities receive more money from Qatar than from any other country in the world. These colleges include Yale, Harvard, Texas A&M, Georgetown, Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, Northwestern University, and Virginia Commonwealth, among others. 

In its billion dollar agreement with Texas A&M University to establish a local campus in Doha, Qatar has a major hand in human resources and budgetary decisions.

Qatar owns the intellectual property rights to all TAMU’s research projects in Doha, which include sensitive nuclear research.

Some of the academic programs shaped by Qatari money — both domestically and internationally — are Middle Eastern studies. Qatar’s influence is not limited to curriculum design, but even extends to faculty hiring. 

Qatar also hosts US forces and serves as the regional headquarters for the US Central Command (CENTCOM).