In response to complaints that some professors are spreading anti-American or anti-Israel ideas, Jewish groups and conservatives have called for a government-mandated panel to oversee the programs and ensure students are exposed to balanced views on the Middle East. Michigan and other involved schools now warn that such intrusion into their academic affairs could force them to sever ties to the programs.

While Congress has every right to make certain it is getting the services it pays for, its overreaction to a legitimate discussion of ideas undercuts academic independence and risks leaving the government with a critical shortage of Arabic speakers, which prompted the programs in the first place.

Just last week, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld complained about getting precise translations of intercepted messages in Arabic. Translator shortages also hamper interrogations of Iraqi prisoners and the National Security Agency's assessment of thousands of Arabic messages it intercepts.

Groups that include the American Jewish Congress charge that some Middle Eastern studies professors blame Israel for its conflict with Palestinians and fault the U.S. for provoking terrorism.

The criticisms prompted the House of Representatives last fall to create an International Education Advisory Board to monitor the programs. Among the duties of the board, which is awaiting Senate approval, is to push for "diverse perspectives" on the Middle East - ensuring that the Israeli side is taught as well as the Palestinian side.

But Congress' heavy-handed approach causes more problems than it solves. It sets a dangerous precedent that could invite congressional meddling in other academic affairs. What's more, by insisting on politically sanitized views about the Middle East, lawmakers do little to foster understanding of the antipathy toward the U.S. in the Islamic world or shed light on the causes of anti-Americanism and the violence it spawns.

Lawmakers who back the oversight board say it only would suggest - not dictate - course changes. And they say it merely revives a previous panel designed to oversee subsidized foreign-studies programs.

But that panel's mission was to propose new programs and make sure the funds were spent wisely, a proper role for taxpayer-financed endeavors. It was not in the censorship business as the new board would be.

Encroaching on academic freedom does not promote understanding of terrorism - or address the shortage of translators.