Letter to the editor: Retain professor Barry

Dear President Eisgruber, University President;

Dean Prentice, Dean of the Faculty; Professor Zaman, Chair of the Department of Near Eastern Studies,

We, the Students, Graduate and Undergraduate, and Alumni of Princeton University, are writing to express our profound concern in regards to the rumors of the dismissal of Dr. Michael Barry from his functions in the Department of Near Eastern Studies.

In the least, the possibility of this action takes us by surprise. As his students and advisees, we know Dr. Barry to be a rigorous scholar who espouses a unique, interdisciplinary methodology in his courses on Islamic history and his seminars devoted to medieval Persian literature.

Dr. Barry’s work has impacted our learning in Princeton in meaningful and lasting ways. His lectures about Afghanistan have bridged cultural gaps among students of diverse origins and invited them to find common ground in their thought and everyday lives. Others have started learning Persian, influenced by his lectures on Sufism. For some of us, he is an advisor who provides critical feedback on our independent research. For others, he is a mentor whose generosity with his time and dedication have far exceeded the capacity of his professional obligations.

We, therefore, would like to know if there is truth to this rumor, and if there is, we ask that the University take the students’ wishes and interests into account. We wish to know the motivations behind such a decision. We would like to know if it was made in a unilateral or collective manner, and how this reflects upon the University, which prides itself on honesty, transparency and the diversity of ideas. We want to know if it was financially motivated, and if so, while we acknowledge that financial concerns are real, we would also like to reiterate that the calculus of intellectual growth should transcend short-term economic savings. We are confident that the non-economic benefits of keeping Dr. Barry far outweigh the cost of Princetonians not having the opportunity to learn from him.

We believe that as a University with tremendous resources devoted to undergraduate learning, we should be able to find a way to have Dr. Barry remain in our community. Dr. Barry’s courses are some of the few in Princeton where we grasp fully how politics, sociology, philosophy, international relations and history all come together to shape the world in which we live. Currently, Dr. Barry’s classes have 286 enrolled students, in addition to the 127 taught in the previous semester. This speaks in itself to how much we value learning with Dr. Barry. We can confidently say that the material he presents teaches us not only about Sufism, Islam and Afghanistan, but further invites us to question our own cultural assumptions and to think critically. We believe that this is a practice a liberal arts education holds dear.

We are future policymakers who will have the responsibility of shaping the course of this nation and nations around the world. We are members of various faiths who enjoy reading Sufi poetries, and spreading the message of tolerance in a world increasingly filled with skepticism and misunderstanding. We pride ourselves on being an integral part of the University, alongside our tremendous faculty and staff, and we want Dr. Barry to impart his wisdom, knowledge, and experience to as many generations of Princeton students as possible.

We wish to respectfully note that this letter is an entirely student-initiated endeavor and that Dr. Barry played no role in its creation. Despite the expanding rumors of his dismissal, Dr. Barry's high level of instruction has not lapsed or waned in the slightest.

We, the undersigned students, believe as a community that we owe it to ourselves to find a way to have Dr. Barry with us, not just for the next year, but for years to come.

Thank you for your attention.

Signed,

Aamir Zainulabadeen ’18

Abrar Choudhury ’16

Advait Chauhan ’17

Alexander Michael ’17

Alexandra Lanzafame ’17

Alexis Martirosian ’05

Ali Akram Hayat ’16

Alice Catanzaro ’17

Alicia Li ’16

Allan Marube ’16

Allegra Wiprud ’14

Amina Igeh

Andrew Hanna ’16

Andrew Morgan ’19

Andrew Watrous ’09

Andrew Zhou ’18

Aneesh Rai ’17

Ankit Panda ’12

Ankit Sarkar ’17

Anna Novogratz ’18

Anna Stillman ’18

Ariana Mirzada ’18

Ariel Hsing ’17

Aryaman Jalota ’18

Asavari Sinha ’16

Asmod Karki ’16

Augustin S. Wambersie ’18

Austin O'Baker ’17

Avaneesh Narla ’17

Azza Cohen ’16

Baxter Ingram ’18

Benjamin C. Rosales ’12

Benjamin Lawton ’18

Bertha Wang ’18

Blakeley Harrison Lange ’18

Brett N. Harner ’17

Brian Degen ’18

Brian Ho

Brianna Katherine Martin ’13

Brittany Ptak ’17

Brooke Smilen ’19

Bryant Switzer ’17

Cale Salih ’10

Caleb Gum ’18

Cara Mattaliano ’17

Catherine Ambler ’06

Cemil Revan Purington ’16

Chad Mowbray ’15

Charles Bishop Ughetta ’19

Charles Kanoff ’17

Charles Shaw ’17

Charles Von Swatrington ’19

Charlie Ramirez ’18

Chloe Bordewich ’12

Chris Choo ’18

Chris Grubbs ’18

Chris Patacsil ’16

Chris Ren ’19

Christian Kelling ’19

Christian Rodriguez ’16

Christina Sola ’18

Clayton Marsh ’18

Conner Romeyn ’17

Conrad Legendy ’07

Coy Ozias ’18

Dan de Groot ’19

Daniel C. Korn ’09

Daniel Elkind ’17

Daniel Mozley ’17

Daniel Rounds ’17

Daniel Seungyul Kim ’16

David Asker ’13

David Crane ’18

David McFall ’17

David Prilutsky ’18

David Sahar ’17

David Samuel Perkins ’18

Derek S. Grego ’12

Divya Krishnan ’16

Divya Mehta ’18

Divya Thuremella ’18

Douglas Wallack ’16

Dr Arthur Dudney ’05

Edward Northrop ’16

Emily Yasmin Norris ’09

Emory Ruscus ’17

Eric Hagstrom ’13

Ethan Cohen ’18

Farah Naim ’10

Fatema G. Waliji ’12

Fatima Bakhtawar ’19

Flannery Becker ’09

Forrest Hull ’16

Francesco Fabozzi ’18

Frederic Vystavel ’16

Georgie Howe ’17

Gordon Moore ’18

Grant Keating ’18

Gregory Colella ’12

Grzegorz Skrzypek ’18

Guy Johnston ’16

Hailey Reeves ’17

Hammad Aslam ’17

Hannah Katherine Martins ’13

Harrison Shure ’18

Hassan Ejaz Chaudhry ’18

Hassan Khan ’17

Heidi Miller ’18

Helen Greene ’15

Hiba Elbuluk ’17

Hilary Lloyd ’17

Hunter Johnson ’19

Ian Baker ’18

Jack Jiranek ’19

Jacob Moore ’17

Jacques Singer-Emery

Jaime Flores Benabib ’16

Jake Levin ’18

James Burns ’18

James H Goble ’18

James Palmer ’19

James Sincavage ’18

James Wasserman ’19

Jan Bernhard ’18

Jason Yu ’16

Jenny Mu ’18

Jeremy Rotblat ’17

Jessica Li ’18

Jill Barton ’16

Joe Barrett ’14

Joe Sheehan ’17

John Bogle ’16

John Prentice Caves III ’12

Jonathan Lebeau ’18

Jonathan Lord ’18

Jonathan Naylor ’19

Jonathan Shifke ’10

Jonathan Wu ’17

Julia Rizio ’16

Julianna Wright ’17

Justin Vogel ’17

Katie Tyler ’18

Kayvon Tehranian ’08

Kelly Roache ’12 GS ’15

Kelsey Dennison ’16

Kevin Tang ’16

Kiana Amirahmadi ’16

Konstantinos Koutras ’17

Kristen A. Johnson ’17

Kristen Davila

Kwasi Oppong-Badu ’18

Kyung Jun Paek ’17

Lamiah Anne Haque ’17

Laraib Ilyas ’18

Leo Toch ’18

Lila Currie ’18

Lily Reisinger ’18

Luis Legro ’18

Luisa Banchoff ’17

Maha Chaudhry ’16

Manbir Gulati ’18

Manraj Singh ’16

Mariam Rahmani ’10

Marissa Rosenberg-Carlson ’18

Martin Barakso ’16

Martin Gavin ’17

Martina Fouquet ’16

Mary Ann McNulty ’16

Masoomali Fatehkia ’18

Matt Wylie ’19

Matthew Benstead ’17

Matthew Doyle ’19

Matthew Miller ’19

Matthew O. Sanyour ’11

Max Goldstein ’18

Meisze Yau ’16

Michael Davis ’18

Michael Dudey ’17

Michael Lee ’16

Michael Schoenleber ’12

Michael Seaton ’18

Michael Shin ’18

Mika Devonshire ’12

Miklos Szebeni ’16

Mohammad Mousavian ’15

Muhsin Hassan ’12

Mya Abousy ’18

Nabil Shaikh ’17

Nadia Diamond ’17

Nadir Noordin ’19

Neamah Abdulhusein ’17

Neeraj Bajpayee ’17

Nene O. Kalu ’07

Nicholas Fowler Jonsson ’18

Nicholas Mirda ’14

Nicolas Bayless ’18

Nitasha Siddique ’18

Norman Bonnyman ’12

Olivia Davis ’18

Olivia Fiechter ’18

Oluwatobi Aladesuru ’17

Omar Mukadam ’18

Osama Hassan ’18

Owen Cornwall ’06

Cason Crane ’17

Pallavi Koppol ’16

Patrick Eble ’16

Paul Spiegl ’19

Paul Tupper ’17

Payam Payseparg’14

Penina Krieger ’17

Peter L. L. McCall ’10

Philip Adams ’17

Poshak Agrawal ’13

Prateek Swain ’19

Prianka Misra ’16

Qin Xia ’17

Rabia Khan ’18

Raghav Gandotra ’16

Rana Ibrahem ’15

Raoul James Rodriguez ’18

Rasha Suleiman ’19

Raymond Han ’16

Rebecca Fleming ’17

Richard Freling ’16

Ritwik Bhattacharyya GS ’15

Robert Joyce ’13

Robia Amjad ’18

Rohan Patlolla ’18

Rohit Gawande ’11

Rund Abdelfatah ’13

Ryan Pristo ’18

Safa Syed ’17

Safeeyah Quereshi ’16

Sajal K. Tiwary ’17

Sajda Ouachtouki ’13

Salwa Ahmad ’17

Sanchali Seth Pal ’12

Sara Kushma ’13

Sarah Sakha ’18

Saud Abdulrahman Al-Thani ’13

Scott Bechler ’17

Seamus Daniels ’16

Sean Cotter ’13

Sena Cebeci ’19

Seongjin Kwon ’16

Serena Editoiu ’18

Seung Jae Choi ’16

Shannon Mercer ’11

Shefali Jain ’17

Shikha Uberoi ’13

Shreyas Lakhtakia ’16

Sierra Goldstein ’17

Spencer Walle ’10

Spencer Zakarin ’11

Sukrit Singh Puri ’17

Sukriti Chadha ’15

Suleika Jaouad ’10

Tal Eisenzweig ’12

Tal Fortgang ’17

Tara Harrington ’16

Teresa Benvenuti ’16

Theodore Beers ’09

Theodore Moskovitz ’17

Therese Perales ’17

Thomas Facon ’18

Tiantian Zha ’13

Tlaloc Ayala ’19

Tom George ’18

Tori Rinker '16

Trey Aslanian ’18

Tyler Hoffman ’17

Usama Bin Shafqat ’18

Veenu King ’16

Victor Edward Prato ’15

Vishan Nigam ’18

Wardah Bari ’16

Wesley Morgan ’11

William (Yunsung) Lee ’16

William Chance ’18

William Jenner ’18

William Palmer ’16

William Simon ’19

Zachariah Smart ’19

Zachary Jonathan Sobel ’13

Zayn Siddique ’11