Survey: 71% Say US Academia Less Equipped for Truth-Seeking Since 9/11
Image
Washington – September 11, 2026 -- Seventy-one percent of surveyed academics say American higher education is worse equipped today than it was 25 years ago to pursue truth-seeking as its central mission, according to a new survey released by the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA) to mark the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
Two-thirds of professors doubt students can identify who perpetrated 9/11
The survey found that 66% of Middle East studies professors do not believe their students can correctly identify the causes or perpetrators of the September 11, 2001 attacks. The same share, 66%, said scholarly academic work has generated cover for ideologies, groups, or regimes directly hostile to the United States.