Proposed Arab studies center stirs up a campus row
To Los Angeles Businessman J. Robert Fluor, it seemed a natural way to benefit his two favorite institutions: the University of Southern California, which he serves as chairman of the board of trustees, and the Fluor Corp., an international construction firm he heads that last year did $272 million worth of business in Saudi Arabia alone. Fluor's brainchild was a $22 million research institute at U.S.C. to be called the Middle East Center and funded by American corporations, including his own, with a stake in the Middle East. After all, some 20%...