Thomas Goltz

A graduate with an MA in Middle Eastern Studies from New York University (1985), and now an Honorary Doctor (ADA University/Baku 2020), I have always maintained a connection to the Ivory Tower. When not in field as a journalist, I became a guest lecturer at leading US universities or foreign policy-related institutes in Azerbaijan, Belgium, Canada, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Russia, Turkey and the United Kingdom (including the House of Lords). They say I give a good talk.

In 2006, I was invited to become 'An Esteemed Visiting Scholar' (or something like that) to The University of Montana (Missoula) to develop classes on Turkey, the Caucasus and the Middle East. 

The complex internal academic politics that I experienced over the next two years did not suit me (they were very ugly), and so I took a 75% pay cut and bailed out in 2008 to bitter rival Montana State University in Bozeman, nearby my home in Livingston.

There (MSU), I took over a couple of moribund 'Moo-You' (cowboy classes) and trasformed them into national champions (or at least national runner-ups in dabate.) 

By year two, my MSU Model Arab League team was bored with our annual crushing of my former school (UM/Missoula), and jumped from state (Montana) to regional (Rocky Mountain West, hosted by the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. There we went up against a variety of well-prepared schools, including Brigham Young, and took the absolute plurality of awards: Best Chair, Best Country, Best Delegate x 4 (of 5) plus a lot of "honorables", too. In other words, we clearly won the "Best School" award, had such been given.

The MSU team were clearly ready for the "Big Show" (the MAL Nationals in Washington, DC).

So I went to bat, convincing the National Secretariate to allow MSU to represent 'Observer' state of Eritrea (and Turkey) to go up against the usual 22 Big Boy schools (West Point, Northeastern, etc.)

Turkey was interesting, but Eritrea was our show and my MSU youth studied up on this dysfunctional Red Sea state, and went to Washington as a 'guerilla' delegation. We knew we could not win anyything, but by god we left our mark--and then get invited back.

In 2012, the MAL National Secretariate (DC) gave MSU full delegation rights to represent problematic Bahrain--then in the very midst of its own 'Arab Spring" nastiness. We leapt at the chance, and this time we went in with a full delegation--and with voting rights. Despite (or maybe because of?) the MSU team's sometimes abbrassive (realistic?) position, MSU came back with a nice batch of awards. These included a delegate elevated to chairmanship of the Environmental Affairs committee.

Then came the shocker: Montana State University had been selected to represent Palestine--Palestine!--at the MAL nationals in Washington, DC in 2013!

We worked the year, walzing through the Rocky Mountain Regonals in Salt Lake City for preparartion (UM, ha!), before flying on to DC to joust with the Big Boys again.

My 'Moo-You' team were incredible. And although we did not make it to Number One, MSU came close: the team returned with runner-up status, as well as the coveted "Palestine" committee chairmanship for 2014!

Here is a press clip; pix are in the right column.

"MSU debate team wins awards at national competition

MSU News Service Summary:  

Competing against 23 other universities, MSU's 15-member Model Arab League debate team scored multiple awards in its best showing ever at the group's annual national competition held April 11-14 at Georgetown University

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BOZEMAN -- The Montana State University Model Arab League debate team scored multiple awards in its best showing ever at the group's annual national competition held April 11-14 at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. MSU competed against teams from 23 universities, ranging from West Point to Northeastern and Northwestern universities.

Team captain and head delegate Shannon Collaer, a sophomore from Idaho Falls, Idaho, majoring in history and religious studies, was selected as chairperson for the Palestine Committee on the national Secretariat for 2014, a coveted position.

(http://www.montana.edu/news/11611/msu-s-collaer-wins-national-travel-fellowship-to-saudi-arabia)

MSU won awards for competition in the areas of social affairs, economic affairs, Palestinian affairs, as well as a team honorary mention, or runner-up for its overall representation of Palestine.

“I joined MAL with two goals in mind: to learn more about the Middle East and become better at public speaking,” said Devon Norden, a senior from Havre majoring in political science and international relations. Norden, who also competed with the MSU MAL team last year, served as a justice for the Arab Court of Justice. “Now, I am leaving the program with an extensive knowledge of Middle Eastern politics along with the ability to effectively debate at a national level.  These skills are ones that I will take with me for the rest of my life and, because of that, MAL is an experience I will never forget.” 

And then the curtain fell.

Despite the laudatory reviews. both the MAL and BSEC classes were killed by the MSU admisistraton and on the lamest of excuses--namely, that both classes needed to be 'upgraded' into a 'Model UN debate class status and in the Honors Progrsm run by a full-Tenured Professor, and not a mere Adjunct like me. 

In terms of the Ivory Tower, I wanted to vomit.

"World Reaction To Goltz Appointment as Scholar at The University of Montana..."

 The Undeclared But Clear Victors at Model Arab League Western Event in Salt Lake City, 2013--MSU!

 NCUSAR Invitation to MSU to represent Palestine at Nationals '13