The College Fix

Michigan State University students may be surprised to learn that Libyan government officials in the employ of embattled dictator Muammar Gadhafi are among their classmates.

The Detroit Free Press reported Monday that 35 Libyans have been involved for the past two years in a program to improve their diplomatic and communicative skills. Some are governmental officials, and all were selected by the Gadhafi regime, which paid MSU $2 million to cover education costs. The university confirmed the program’s existence in e-mails to Inside Higher Ed.

MSU is standing by its actions.

“We are not consulting with the Libyan government on economic development strategies and to my knowledge have received no donations or endowment funds from Libya,” MSU spokesman Kent Cassella told The Detroit Free Press. “We are helping the citizens of Libya, not specifically the government of Libya or the Gadhafi regime.”

The London School of Economics recently discontinued a similar program involving Libyan diplomats. LSE had maintained an extensive relationship with the Libyan government, awarding Gadhafi’s son a PhD in 2008. The school’s director, who was paid by Libya to consult on economic affairs, has since resigned.

MSU believes its program is fundamentally different from LSE’s. Cassella explained this difference on WKAR public radio.

“”The key here is that Michigan State, we have not accepted any donation grants or any philanthropic giving,” he said. “And that we don’t do any financial consulting.”

Libyans have become one of the fastest growing international groups on campuses since the resumption of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Libya in 2006. But with programs like those at LSE and MSU, some worry that universities will be perceived as having cozied up to a brutal dictator.

Stephen Walt, Professor of International Affairs at Harvard University, told The Detroit Free Press that universities need to evaluate their partnerships with the Libyan government in light of recent events.

“Anybody that has any ongoing dealing with the Gadhafi government, either a private business or a university, has to be very carefully thinking about whether they want it to continue,” he said.

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