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Officials Voice Support for Qatar Program

UNC officials who traveled to Qatar this weekend expressed overwhelming support for establishing an undergraduate business degree program in the Middle Eastern nation, Chancellor James Moeser said Tuesday.

Moeser, who participated in the trip, said he conducted an informal survey on the plane among faculty members who traveled to Doha, Qatar's capital.

"Among the group that made the trip, the reactions were overwhelmingly positive," he said.

Moeser, several administrators, three Board of Trustees members, two Board of Governors members and about 40 faculty members from the Kenan-Flagler Business School and the College of Arts and Sciences went on the trip, which aimed to teach participants more about Qatar and the possibility of a UNC satellite campus there.

Faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences would teach Qatari freshmen and sophomores, and business school faculty would teach upper-level courses.

"My primary goal was to give faculty the opportunity to see the country for themselves and to ask all necessary questions, and I think we accomplished that goal," Moeser said.

UNC officials arrived in Qatar on Saturday evening and returned to Chapel Hill early Tuesday morning. During the intensive trip, the group toured the proposed site for the campus and met with Qatari educational officials and American ambassadors.

The group also visited the al-Jazeera satellite TV channel, the Arab network that captured recent international attention for its broadcast of Osama bin Laden's video messages.

The sheikha of Qatar, Mozah bint Nasser Al-Misnad, who financed the trip, hosted the UNC officials for dinner Sunday night at Al Wajaba Palace.

James Peacock, anthropology professor and director of the University Center for International Studies, said the sheikha delivered a powerful speech expressing her desire for UNC to enrich Qatar's academic community.

"She was very forceful and progressive in her delivery," Peacock said. "The event was very impressive."

Upon their return to North Carolina, many members of the delegation expressed support for the program.

Board of Trustees Chairman Tim Burnett, who traveled to Qatar earlier this year as part of UNC's preliminary examination, said this trip maintained his support for developing a satellite campus.

"I came back from the trip in May thinking this needs to be done," he said. "I saw nothing in the second trip that in any way lessened my enthusiasm for this program."

Business Professor Bob Adler said his experience in Qatar diminished any academic and safety concerns he had prior to the trip. "In terms of academic freedom and commitment to tolerance and diversity, I was extraordinarily reassured," he said. "I felt a lot safer in Qatar than a tall office building in New York."

Political science Professor Donna Lefebvre also said she was impressed by the Qatari people and society to which she was exposed during her visit.

"I realized how completely liberal and modern they are for a Muslim country," she said. "I was struck by their sincerity and their desire for us to help them advance their country."

Although the trip's participants have enthusiastically supported the satellite school, the idea received mixed reviews from faculty at Friday's Faculty Council meeting, and student leaders have expressed concern about a lack of student input in the decision.

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But Moeser said he now will conduct a survey of faculty in the business school and College of Arts and Sciences to gain additional input from faculty.

Moeser also said he plans to speak at a Nov. 14 forum sponsored by student government to address student concerns.

Moeser said he plans to make a decision about whether to pursue the satellite school before the end of the year.

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.

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