Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Professor fired for Israel criticism urges University of Illinois to reinstate him

Steven Salaita says he is being denied his academic freedom after emails suggest donors threatened to withdraw funding

Steve Salaita
Steve Salaita had his appointment revoked after posting several messages to Twitter criticising Israel’s conduct in Gaza. Photograph: Virginia Tech
Steven Salaita, a university professor whose appointment at the University of Illinois was withdrawn last month after he was critical of Israel on Twitter, spoke publicly for the first time on Tuesday, saying he should be reinstated on the grounds of academic freedom.
“I am a passionate advocate for equality, a fair and open-minded instructor, and highly collegial. No legitimate evidence exists for any claims or insinuations to the contrary, which have severely damaged any reputation and my prospects for future employment,” he said.
Salaita, a former tenured professor of English at Virginia Tech, accepted a faculty appointment at the University of Illinois in October 2013 to teach in the American Indian Studies program starting January 2014. But his appointment was revoked in early August, after Salaita posted to Twitter several messages criticising Israel.
Only Israel can murder around 300 children in the span of a few weeks and insist that it is the victim,” said one. “If Netanyahu appeared on TV with a necklace made from the teeth of Palestinian children, would anybody be surprised,” asked another.
In explaining his dismissal, university officials described his comments as uncivil, saying they represented “disrespectful and demeaning speech that promotes malice”.
Since then, some academics have mounted a boycott of the university, saying it is not the institute’s place to dictate civil discourse. They also claim the university has become too beholden to wealthy donors who they say are informally dictating decisions involving hiring and tenure. Internal emails surfaced last week that suggested the university’s decision to drop Salaita was motivated by threats from wealthy donors.
“‘Civility’ is the new banner of what is expected on college campuses and it’s a frightening reality for those of us who have to figure out what it is to teach under that banner flying over our campuses,” said Robert Warrior, chairman of the American Indian Studies program, who is fighting to get Salaita reinstated.
Late last month, university trustees released a statement saying that Salaita was rejected for the inflammatory nature of his Twitter posts, not his views. “There can be no place for that in our democracy, and therefore, there will be no place for it in our university,” chairman Christopher Kennedy wrote.
However, emails published on Wednesday by the News-Gazette in Champaign-Urbana showed donors threatened to withdraw their financial support if Salaita’s hiring was approved.
“Based on the hiring of Mr Salaita, I have decided to reconsider any future commitment of time and money to the University of Illinois,” wrote one alumnus to the university chancellor, Phyllis Wise.
“I have tremendous respect for [College of Business] dean [Larry] DeBrock, Tim Durst and the business school development office, and I am deeply conflicted by my decision to reconsider any support for the business school. However, as a Jew and lover of Israel, I see no other way to make my voice heard then to take this action,” the email went on.
Another correspondent told Wise: “I have consistently believed that our flagship state university is a treasure that deserves our continued support and contributions. No more. We will now cease our annual contributions to the university and will let our fellow alumni know why we are doing so. We will encourage others to join us in this protest, as perhaps financial consequences will sway you even though morals, common sense and decency did not.”
Salaita wrote several angry tweets last month referencing the conflict in Gaza. At a press conference on Tuesday held at the university YMCA, he did not apologise for the tweets, but said that his “messages are no doubt passionate and unfiltered” and “reflect my deep dismay at the deaths of more than 2,000 innocent Palestinians”.
He said he was troubled by the emails, saying that they are “part of a nationwide concerted effort by wealthy and well-organised groups to attack pro-Palestinian students and faculty and silence their speech.”
“This risks creating a Palestinian exception to the first amendment and to academic freedom,” he said, adding it is an area that “should be worrying to all scholars and teachers”.
Academics from within and far outside the university are protesting Salaita’s treatment, with lecture cancellations, refusals to participate in outside tenure review or programs organised by the university.
In a letter dated 29 August, the American Association of University Professors in Washington said the trustees’ actions violate its membership protocol for hiring tenured faculty because Salaita was not given indication in the 10-month period between his hiring and his dismissal that his appointment would be later reviewed by the board. They said his recent “online statements [should be seen] as extramural activity as a citizen rather than as faculty performance”. The organisation insisted that he receive a paid salary until the matter is resolved.
On Tuesday, Salaita said that, because of the decision, his family “has no income, no health insurance, and no home of our own”.
David Blacker, a professor of education and legal studies at the University of Delaware in Newark, pulled out of a 29 September lecture series he was scheduled to participate in after learning of the Salaita dismissal. He does not know Salaita but said the situation resonated with him because it put the “vulnerability of academic freedom on display in a way it hasn’t been so graphically made before”.
“We’re being told often enough that professors need to engage more with the public, that we need to be more quote-unquote ‘public intellectuals’ and that is held up to a kind of ideal,” says Blacker, who received two graduate degrees from the University of Illinois. “On the other hand, you see things like this and it seem dicey sanctions for saying the wrong thing and offending the wrong people.”

No comments: