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Show / P^Y/?^ THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH SALT LAKE CITY 84112 MIDDLE EAST CENTER January 14, 1970 BUILDINO 41 Dr. Sami A. Hanna % United States Information Service American Embassy TUNIS, Tunisia Dear Dr. Hanna: Thank you for your recent letters and messages. I am delighted to hear of your living arrangements and that you are proceeding with your plans. I am asking Esther to send a copy of the Arabic Catalogue to the Director of the Tunisian National Library. The immediate reason I am writing this letter is to respond to your requests of January 5 and 6 regarding Dr. Abu Zahra and the list of Arabic source materials. Concerning the former, please note that budgetary problems are serious. We obviously would be happy to process Dr. Abu Zahra's papers, get the necessary recommendations, and possibly even offer her an appointment if our finances permit. This, as you are aware, will not be known to us till next spring. Senator Magnuson has publicly stated in the Senate that the NDEA program has achieved its goals; that it should be scrapped and the money allocated more usefully. With your awareness of the state of Utah's limited funds, you must see what this combination will mean for the Center's future. Since Senator Magnuson is a member of the appropriations committee, and is very influential, a nationwide threat now exists as to the future development, even existence, of NDEA supported programs. I do not wish to alarm you, but I want you to be perfectly clear in regard to the present situation. As to the second item, I do not know what monetary unit, or its dollar equivalent, has been used. However, I am submitting the list to Professor Atiya, Chairman of our Library Committee, for his evaluation, and transliteration before sending it to the library. While the above statement regarding NDEA funds will also be applicable to the library, I wish to inform you that we have a total appropriation of $3000 for this current year, of which $2000 has been expended. To finance your proposed acquisitions, we would have to apply to the Institutional Funds Committee or to the University library. We have already applied for a substantial |
