Dr. Richard L. Cravatts Named President of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East

BOSTON, Jan. 31, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Richard L. Cravatts, Ph.D., Professor of Practice and Director of the Communications Management Program in the School of Management of Simmons College in Boston, has been elected President of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, the third in the organization's history.

Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME) is a grass-roots community of academics who have united to promote honest fact based, and civil discourse. The organization's mission is to inform, motivate, and encourage faculty to use their academic skills and disciplines on campus, in classrooms, and in academic publications to develop effective responses to the ideological distortions—including anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist slanders—that poison debate and work against peace. SPME welcomes scholars from all disciplines, faiths groups and nationalities who share its desire for peace and its commitment to academic integrity and honest debate.

SPME has formed task forces to examine issues of anti-Semitic or anti-Israel biases in the mandatory multicultural religious and ethnic teachings on campus and in the community; working to maintain "intimidation free" campuses; dealing with academic integrity with respect to fabricating and falsifying data when discussing the Middle East; and responding to anti-Israel and anti-Semitic incidents on campus as they arise, especially in classrooms and university sponsored events.

It also works to insure the academic integrity of scholars working on issues affecting the Middle East, and to provide a countervailing voice against campus-led divestment, boycotts, and sanctions initiatives.

As the SPME President, Dr. Cravatts will be the chief officer of the Board of Directors and will oversee all the activities of the organization for its more than 50,000 members on some 3,400 campuses worldwide. Along with the other officers of the association, the President enforces policies established by the organization for implementation by individual members, committees, task forces and campus chapters.

SPME president is responsible for working with the organization's executive director and managing the day to day administrative, as well as programmatic and advancement, activities of the organization, including donor relations, conferences, white papers, petitions, and task forces.

The creator and founding director of Boston University's Program in Publishing & Digital Media at BU's Center for Professional Education, Dr. Cravatts has taught at Simmons College, Boston University, Babson College, Tufts University, UMass/ Boston, Suffolk University, Wentworth Institute, Emerson College, Northeastern University, and Emmanuel College.

He has published over 350 articles, op-ed pieces, columns, and chapters in books on campus anti-Semitism, academic free speech, terrorism, Constitutional law, Middle East politics, real estate, and social policy, and is the author of the newly-released book, Genocidal Liberalism: The University's War Against Israel & Jews. He is also a frequent guest on radio programs and lectures nationally on the topic of higher education and the Middle East. 

In addition to his role with SPME, Dr. Cravatts is also a board member of The Journal for the Study of Antisemitism, the Investigative Taskforce on Campus Anti-Semitism, and the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law.

SOURCE Scholars for Peace in the Middle East