Months before a Columbia University dean was named to a special committee convened to investigate student complaints about professors' hostility to Israel, the dean took a trip to Saudi Arabia that she acknowledges was "largely" paid for by Saudi Aramco, the kingdom-owned oil company.

The dean, Lisa Anderson of Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs, was one of five members of the committee named in December 2004. The committee for the most part cleared the accused scholars of blame, prompting critics to describe their report as a whitewash.

The March 2004 junket to Saudi Arabia is described in glowing terms on a Web site for former Saudi Aramco employees that details the "delightful lunch" enjoyed by the Columbia delegation, as well as a "wonderful dinner" during which "guests watched the sunset over the sand dunes from the tent."

The tour, which the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations helped organize, took a total of 10 Columbia faculty members and scholars to Riyadh, Dharan, and other parts of Saudi Arabia to tour facilities and meet with officials of the oil company...

...have you read much about how rewards work in Middle East studies? Serious money, really serious money, flows directly as grants, honorarium and study tours (you can hardly be a scholar if you cannot afford to regularly visit the region) given by the Saudis to scholars who pass litmus tests. A couple of years ago I read a fascinating and powerful report on this. I cannot think where. I'm sure Ivory Towers on Sand has some of this.

Like a lot of things, Saudi money in academia is similar to the money of any wealthy person who gives to congenial institutions. Except - the Saudis are systematic, rigorously ideological, and have vast resources...

The faculty of Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism voted not to send a professor along on a trip to Saudi Arabia largely paid for by the kingdom's state-owned oil company, viewing it as a "propaganda junket" that would have set a poor ethical example for students...