Devotees and critics of the late Edward Said may be interested in the September issue of Viewpoints (from the Middle East Institute) where a variety of writers and academics reconsider his seminal work, Orientalism – "the critique it proffered, the controversy it aroused, and the influence it has had".

The articles are a useful compilation, reflecting the current state of the debate. Last year, to mark to the 30th anniversary of the book's publication, The Guardian also published a series of articles, including one where I expressed my own ambivalent feelings about Orientalism.

Talking of Edward Said, there's a campaign under way at Columbia University to re-open the question of tenure for Said's protégé,Joseph Massad. Massad was finally granted tenure last June but now a small group of professors are challenging it on procedural grounds.

They really ought to shut up. I have been very critical myself of his book, Desiring Arabs, but everyone knows the fuss over his tenure is not really an academic matter – it's about suppressing critical discussion of Israel in American universities.

If these people don't like Massad's views (and I don't like them much either, though probably for different reasons), they should cut out the intrigue and start engaging properly with his arguments.