From The New York Times today:
“It just seems really ironic to me that Rashid would be singled out as a figure in the trumped-up controversy,” Alan Brinkley,
Columbia’s provost and a friend of Mr. Khalidi’s since 1985, said in a
telephone interview Thursday. “In a field that is often politicized, he
is respected by people on the right as well as the left.”
Even if he wasn't acceptable on the right, he doesn't deserve the battering he's received. There's a defence of Khalidi as good-guy and one to value 'about the senior common room' going on. But its all irrelevant, since lots of professors aren't good guys and are terrible around the senior common room. His offence is that he's palestinian and these 'regular joe' defences entirely miss the point.