Academia, Constitutional Law, Free Speech, Society

Illinois Sanctioned By AAUP Over Termination of Professor For Anti-Israeli Views

dJZiSXft_400x400We previously wrote about the decision of the University of Illinois to withdraw the employment of Professor Steven Salaita due to his publication of anti-Israel views on Twitter. I raised concerns over the decision as punishing an academic for views expressed outside of the classroom. It appear that the American Association of University Professors has the same concerns. The AAUP has passed a censure of the University — a significant sanction for a university that has strived to be included among the top school.

Steven Salaita had already been offered a tenured position in the American Indian studies program on the Champaign-Urbana campus and was just waiting for approval by the university’s Board of Trustees, usually a perfunctory stage. However, Salaita posted strongly anti-Israeli sentiments after the start of the recent war in Gaza. After those postings, he was informed that the university was rescinding its offer due to opposition on the board.

Salaita is a former associate professor at Virginia Tech. He was offered the new job with an $85,000 salary last October to begin on January 2014. The University was enthusiastic about his joining the faculty. In a letter from Brian Ross, the interim dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, he was told “Please let me express my sincere enthusiasm about your joining us. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign offers a wonderfully supportive community, and it has always taken a high interest in its newcomers. I feel sure that your career can flourish here, and I hope earnestly that you will accept our invitation.” Salaita signed the offer letter and accepted the position.

The situation changed when Salaita turned to Twitter to express his views about the Israeli attacks in Gaza. For example, on June 20, after three Israelis were kidnapped and killed, Salaita wrote: “You may be too refined to say it, but I’m not: I wish all the (expletive) West Bank settlers would go missing.” Then, on July 22, he wrote: “#Israel kills civilians faster than the speed of 4G.”

He has also tweeted that “Zionists: transforming ‘anti-semitism’ from something horrible into something honorable since 1948.” In another tweet he suggested that journalist Jeffrey Goldberg ought to get “the pointy end of a shiv.”

UIUC_seal.svgJust a couple weeks after those tweets, on August 1st, U. of I. Chancellor Phyllis Wise informed Salaita in an email that the offer was being rescinded because his appointment was subject to approval by the university’s board of trustees, and the appointment would not be submitted to the board: “We believe that an affirmative Board vote approving your appointment is unlikely. We therefore will not be in a position to appoint you to the faculty … Thank you for your interest in and consideration of the University of Illinois.”

crnelsonHowever, U. of I. English professor Cary Nelson, former national president of the American Association of University Professors, supports the decision to rescind the offer. He notes that Salaita had not yet been formally hired and that his tweets showed that he was “not the right fit for the campus.” He views the tweets as anti-Semitic and can be viewed as linked to his work: “It is because the tweets are an extension of his publication, they are central to his work and many feel they cross the line into anti-Semitism. The anti-Semitism does (bother me) and what appears to be almost a solicitation of violence.” Nelson has been criticized on the Internet by advocacy groups for being part of an effort to block Salaita due to his views.

However, the connection to his work is precisely the point for many of his supporters who note that the university was already aware of his views since he is the author of a 2011 book, “Israel’s Dead Soul.” He has a long academic interest in colonialism and Palestine. This also includes his book, The Holy Land in Transit: Colonialism and the Quest for Canaan: Middle East Studies Beyond Dominant Paradigms (Syracuse University Press). He is also part of a large number of faculty members who have called for boycotting Israeli academic institutions.

The AAUP has denounced the University of Illinois for violating academic freedom. In an email sent to faculty on Saturday, University Chancellor Phyllis Wise said the decision was “disappointing, but not unexpected.”

There continues to be an uncertain line drawn as to what comments are deemed sufficient to terminate academics as shown recently by the controversy surrounding Saida Grundy at Boston University. For academics, uncertainty over what they can say is a direct threat to academic freedom. There seems no discernible line between comments attacking whites (Grundy) and comments attacking Israel. Indeed, Grundy’s comments referred to students and faculty on campus. We have discussed how people are increasingly being punished for statements on social media. This trend is far more worrisome when it is used to terminate academics for expressing unpopular views or theories. For that reason, as offensive as I found her comments, I viewed Grundy’s comments are protected and supported the decision not to termination her. I prefer a bright line rule than the fluid standard that emerges from these cases.

What do you think?

113 thoughts on “Illinois Sanctioned By AAUP Over Termination of Professor For Anti-Israeli Views”

  1. My grandfather was born in Rhodesia… Salisbury, the former capital…Mugabe took over and destroyed a once great nation…the animals run the show…

  3. The “position” would have been silence on gays, blacks, feminists, you know..all the protected groups. That was an easy question.

  4. I wonder what the AAUP’s position would have been if the comments had been made about gays.

  5. “The incredibly defiant and incredibly evil Operational head of the Khazarian Mafia (KM), Bibi Netanyahu. This is the monster who ordered the 9-11-01 attack on America which killed 3,000 Americans outright with 39,000 dying from radiation caused cancers afterwards with 70,000 now fighting for their lives with radiation caused cancers. This man is evil beyond imagination and represents an the Worldwide Organized Crime Cabal known to Intel insiders as the Khazarian Mafia (KM). Numerous insiders believe that the Khazarian Mafia (KM) is inhuman, evil beyond words, and completely dedicated to destroying all societies of the World and mass murdering 90% of humans everywhere including and especially Americans. And right now the KM is in the process of completely asset stripping and exporting all American industry and manufacturing in order to eliminate as many jobs in America as possible in order to weaken America and prevent it from rising up and revolting against the true root of this parasitical cancer, the KM Banksters (aka the Federal Reserve System Counterfeiters) and Homeland Security, the Israeli Occupation Secret Police Army inside America established through nuclear blackmail (aka the Samson Option). Unless these Parasitical Psychopathic Monsters are stopped cold, America will soon be destroyed economically, and up to 90% of all Americans will be mass-murdered in DHS run FEMA Camps, or by a KM engineered nuclear WW3.”
    http://www.buenavistamall.com/Bibi-in-denial.jpg

  6. He’s a professor of American Indian studies which makes me curious to know what his views are on the United States, given his anti-colonial sentiments. For him to suggest someone deserves to be murdered crosses the line. Clearly his judgment is questionable and his lack of self-restraint is non-existent, which makes his student’s academic freedom to disagree with his worldview highly unlikely.

    He wasn’t terminated, he just wasn’t hired.

  10. I think the troll thinks the professor should not have been fired. Just a guess! He should have stayed and a Jewish group of students should have solicited an all Jewish classroom.

  13. Few in America have a memory beyond their own recollection of sixth grade. By this I mean they have little sense of history. Europe had the Holocaust. That was when the Germans, with some help from Marshal Petain in Vichy France, rounded up millions of Jews and killed them in gas chambers and by other methods. The world needs to not only eradicate this willingness to kill and hate Jews but to outlaw pro Holocaust advocacy. This guy is part of that Holocaust advocacy. Statement of his from above: He has also tweeted that “Zionists: transforming ‘anti-semitism’ from something horrible into something honorable since 1948.” In another tweet he suggested that journalist Jeffrey Goldberg ought to get “the pointy end of a shiv.”

    Yes this Twit ought to be fired. The AAua or whatever ya call it needs to be educated.

  15. As far as I’m concerned, #1 Get rid of tenor on the university level and in all education.
    #2 It’s no different for Professor Salaita then for any other person that is scrutinized on multimedia. He knew he was up for an important position and should have kept quiet, at least until he had the job.
    #3 What student could trust an academic who speaks so volatile and will probably be unfair to opposing views.

  16. Tenure and Academic Freedom just went out the window by the U of I.

    Good job by the AAUP!

    Enjoyed your last sentence, Issac…..lol

  17. It could be a judgement call by the university. Take a little heat now, given the acerbic style of Salaita, and avoid future collisions with students as suggested in another post. However, the dynamic thing would have been to bring in Salaita as agreed upon, on the basis of his work and let the chips fall where they may. Universities should be the hotbed of discussion regardless of the subject. The US needs some university inspired introspection. Every major university should have a major sh*t disturber.

  18. I think the difference in these professors’ disagreeable writings can be shown by Professor Salaita’s calls that a reporter should suffer “the pointy end of a shiv.” I did not read that Professor Grundy called for felonious violence against others. Perhaps this was an aggravating factor with Mr. Salaita’s case.

  19. I doubt the professor would have allowed a student to have pro-Israeli views so it cuts both ways.

  20. Does Tim Hunt belong in your column?

    I know little of this, I am more supportive of Salaita than Grundy as I think the U’s explanation that it had not formally accepted him seems like utter nonsense to this wage slave.

    I think Grundy’s tweets are on a par, actually worse than Tim Hunt’s. Since Hunt’s role is honorary only while Grundy has to work with, grade, teach students she clearly despises, …

    Admittedly, I think tenure is largely BS anyway. I’ve heard many many young phds explain that tenure is NOT about academic freedom as I thought it was, but purely a job benefit like retirement. Since that is how so many academics see it, I figure why not I?

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