NYSun:

Saudi Arabia has funneled tens of thousands of dollars into the "outreach" programs of Columbia University's Middle East Institute, which until last week was training some of the city's public-school teachers in how to teach students about Middle East politics.

Since 2002, the government-owned Saudi Aramco has given the institute annual grants of $15,000 for unspecified outreach activities. The institute's outreach activities have included a 15-week teacher-training course on Middle East politics led by Columbia faculty members and graduate students...

A Columbia spokeswoman, Susan Brown, denied the money from Saudi Aramco was used to finance the program that the institute coordinated for the city's Department of Education...

Mr. Khalidi, 56, [head of the Middle East Institute] refuses to speak to the Sun. A message was left last night with an individual who answered the phone at his residence. Mr. Khalidi did not return the message.

The institute at the Morningside Heights campus has won annual certification as one of the country's 19 Middle East National Resource Centers, which each receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in subsidies from the federal Department of Education...