We 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.”
Just 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those tweets, on August 1st, U. of I. Chancellor Phyllis Wise informed Salaita in an email that the offer was being rescinded because his appointment was subject to approval by the university’s board of trustees, and the appointment would not be submitted to the board: “We believe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.”
However, 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?
The Patriot sounds like Obama when he is talking about BIbi. Birds of a feather.
Obama Was Never Eligible to be President
According to our Constitution Obama never qualified as a ‘Natural Born Citizen’ for the office of Presidency
by Dr. Herbert W. Titus, counsel to the law firm of William J. Olson, P.C.
https://youtu.be/qIwmIHRrsG0
That Patriot guy certainly isn’t a liberal, probably some glibertarian.
It appears as though all the lunatic, rabid anti-semites are alive and well on this site today. Anti-Zionism is merely a thinly disguised form of antisemitism. Case in point: journalist Jeffrey Goldberg, merely due to his Jewish-sounding name, is targeted for bodily harm because of that, along with his purported religion. The silence, regarding the crazies and their remarks on here, is deafening.
I agree with Squeeky about retarded comments. That “retard” word is one which needs some play here on the blog.
I can see from some comments that the German American Bund is alive and well. If you folks dont know what that organization was about back in the 1930s and until Pearl Harbor then do some googling. The anti Jewish commentors here are an indication of the fact that such sentiment and hate is alive. The AAUP needs to eat some ickDay.
@Patriot
You said, “17.) According to our Constitution Obama never qualified as a ‘Natural Born Citizen’ for the office of Presidency.”
Please don’t start that silly crap here. I can ignore some of the other less-than-smart stuff, but the “two-citizen parent” idiocy is sooo frigging retarded, and sooo easily debunked, that I will feel compelled to set that record straight.
Thank you for your cooperation
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
AND
Person behind “The Birther Think Tank.”
The hatred of Jews is strong here. Of course it is par for the course for the progressive liberal elite.
Hi Happy! Thank you.
The issue is about the job. You are entitled to hold any opinions you want, even disgusting ones. However,If your political opinions or personal biases, bigotry have no impact on your ability to do your work then….whatever.
In the case of a plumber, carpenter, mechanic, garbage collector or store clerk, it is pretty much immaterial what they think about Israel or Palestine as to how it impacts their ability to sweat pipes, build houses, tune the engine etc. As an employer I would be dismayed to find out my employee is a racist bigot or an antisemitic person. BUT, as long as he/she gets the job done it and it doesn’t affect my customers or my business, I shouldn’t be allowed to fire that person merely for holding abhorrent beliefs. Keep your mouth shut, do your job and don’t let your biases affect your job. The minute they do….I will fire you.
I might not hire them in the first place though, because I can foresee possible future issues. I have the right to hire the best person for the job and choose that person. Maybe I have a clientele of Jewish or African American customers. In this case, I would not be hiring a person who holds negative views to MY customers and who would likely not treat my customers well. This is the situation with this teacher who didn’t get hired. The potential was well stated publicly that he hated and wished dead some of his potential customers/students.
No one is saying he or she can’t hold those views or even express those views. I am not forced to hire someone who either can’t do the job or who will be a detriment to my business….be it a restaurant or a university.
Great Stanton
Rhodesia, South Africa, and other countries once ruled by a minority elite with a majority ruled due to race, on a continent predominantly of the ruled race, resulting from colonialism or military force, can be seen as benevolent dictatorships, regardless of the democratic foundation of the government of the minority.
In practice, for a brief period, these dictatorships function quite well. The technology that Great Britain, Holland, France, and other European powers brought to certain areas of the world organized those areas and mined them for whatever possible, well organized plunder but plunder nevertheless.
In theory they were, regardless of patriotic mumbo jumbo, slaves ruled by slave owners. The majority was either directly or indirectly controlled by the minority.
I grew up in the fifties, sixties, and seventies in a country that is part of a Commonwealth that was mostly an Empire. The British attitude of the White Man’s Burden was thick with exclamations of how much better off ‘these people’ were under British rule.
The reality of the situation was and remains that in order to rule the majority the colonial powers employed the oldest system of divide and conquer. They divided the areas into smaller areas where one people would be a minority and one a majority. This left the minority beholden to the occupying power for protection and in exchange they were armed and assisted the colonial power to subdue and control the majority. The results of this can be seen in Syria, Iraq, Ruanda, and many countries throughout the lands trampled by European powers and later to some extent the US.
The situation was created by force, maintained by force, and when that force left chaos moved in. Old scores were settled. Belgium, perhaps the most disgusting of all European colonial powers slaughtered 15 million Congolese during their visit, simply for not working hard enough. They divided two peoples into two countries Ruanda and Urundi In one the Hutu majority were indirectly ruled by the Tutsi minority and in the other vice versa. After the Belgians left, the payback began. Before the Belgians and before them the Germans came the Hutus lived in their land and the Tutsis lived in their land.
Rhodesia under Smith was morally the same abomination that it was before under Great Britain. That Zimbabwe is in chaos is more a result of the vacuum created when an imposed control is removed than the people that live there. The white Rhodesians were living in a fool’s paradise during their stay, whether they were born there or not. A white guy or girl doesn’t move in to Compton, Ca and just start hanging out with their bros.
Centuries of white ‘colonizing’ with take centuries to fix.
I agree with DBQ
Just like in the other case the consideration should be……can this person effectively do their job?. Treat all students fairly even those who express views contrary to the ones the teacher holds?. Present the materials in a clear, equitable, non biased manner? Will the class room become one of learning or contentious and fearful behaviour on the part of students who are not thinking in lockstep with the teacher?
If not, then they are unsuited to the job of teaching.
It is about hiring someone to do a job and if they cannot do the job, they should not be hired. Period.
DBQ – you can be biased but non-threatening.
Professor Nelson got it wrong. The “right fit” is what I look for in a pair of shoes, not in a university.
There is no amount of invective bad enough for WW2 generation of Germans who are all tarred as “Nazis.”
There is no amount of firing and social opprobrium enough to punish any Americans that dare question the cherished Shibboleths of Jewish power in the USA such as this character who was antiZionist.
There is no amount of insult enough for Muslims who are now the “Nazis” of today and are hated openly as a group in America and Europe, not for their ethnicity, but their religion.
In France you can trash the Pope. You can trash Muhammed– that just means you are for free speech…. but if you ask if the over-representation of Jews at Charlie Hebdo had any role in the choice of whom to mock, well, then you are a hater and an ant eye seemite and probably will run up against one of those “Denying the Holocaust” or “incitement” crimes they have in Europe.
If you want to know who rules you, ask whom you may not criticize.
University of Illinois is over-rated anyways. It’s biggest achievement was fictional, that is, when Arthur C Clarke gave it credit in “2001” for his self aware AI entity “HAL.”
http://www.buenavistamall.com/zionist-media.jpg
http://buenavistamall.com/ControlledMedia.jpg
The Local and National Media Sell Out
As Zionist Jews Own the Media, the elite are above the law
“The power of lies, deceptions and disinformation as Americans pay the price of collective stupidity.”
To America’s so-called journalists omission is the name of the game
The most powerful form of lie is the omission – George Orwell
They are quite accomplished in telling a blatant lie also
The Local, National and World Media are Liars
They have not reported;
1.) All the U.S. invasions are Wars of Aggression – War Crimes
2.) Obama’s birth certificates and draft card are forgeries
3.) Obama claims to have been born in Hawaii. Hawaii governor could not find Obama’s birth certificate. Hospitals have no record
4.) Israel and American traitors did 9/11
5.) Vaccines are full of toxic chemicals. Vaccines cause autism and many other diseases
6.) Obama is one of the biggest criminals in world history
7.) Zionist Jews control America
8.) According to the Federal Government, Obama’s Social Security number is a fake
9.) Obama is a homosexual. His real name is Barry Soetoro
10.) Obama was a War Criminal in 2005-2007 for voting to fund U.S. and Israeli War Crimes
11.) Obama held offices of Illinois senator, U.S. senator and U.S. president illegally as he is not a U.S. citizen
12.) Obama was born in Kenya and is a citizen of Indonesia
13.) By law Obama is not the president. He can be arrested like anyone else
14.) For swearing in an illegal president Chief Justice John Roberts is the biggest traitor in American history
15.) Your boards of elections are corrupt in placing non-citizen, criminal Obama on the ballot
16.) Obama surrendered his law license in 2008 due to Illinois bar application fraud
17.) According to our Constitution Obama never qualified as a ‘Natural Born Citizen’ for the office of Presidency
18.) Many Members of Congress have been voting to fund U.S. and Israeli War Crimes. They can be indicted as war criminals
19.) Washington DC = Nazi Berlin in Nuremberg war crimes law
20.) Obama, Bush and many in the U.S. government are mass murderers / war criminals
21.) Only the ignorant, liars or cowards, will refer to Obama as president
22.) Obama, Bush and their followers have blood on their hands before God which is the worst situation imaginable in this evil world
23.) Obama, Bush, their followers, U.S. government and media are doing the deeds of Satan, their master
24.) Judaism Rejects Zionism and the state of Israel
25.) The Federal Reserve, which is not part of the Federal Government, is a Zionist Banker Mafia
26.) Anti-Zionism is not Anti-Semitism
27.) 3 towers came down on 9/11. It was an inside job, controlled demolition with nukes and nanothermite
28.) The 9/11 dust was full of asbestos which causes mesothelioma, lung cancer and other serious potentially fatal diseases
29.) By many credible reports Osama Bin Laden died of kidney failure in 2001
The Zionist evil of Israel, U.S. and the world can be brought down with the Truth of 9/11.
It appears that you chose the blue pill.
I for one appreciate your comments Patriot.
Israel is a plague of the world thanks to Zionism. Israel maintains the largest concentration camp in the world (Gaza). They have used nukes against Syria and Yemen under the cover of Middle East conflict. They have paid off this government for it’s own evil intentions and brought the US to it’s knees.
There is some good news though, America is starting to wake up to see Israel for what it truly is, a terrorist nation.
“Protecting Israel from critical resolutions at the Security Council has long been a central pillar of US Middle East policy. But so rapid has been the deterioration of relations between the Obama administration and Netanyahu government that America’s protective shield is now up for discussion at the White House, as part of a broader review of US relations with Israel.
“Rarely have the grievances between two such close allies been given such a public airing, or chronicled in such vivid and profane detail.
“Obama and his aides have made no secret of their anger at Benjamin Netanyahu for accepting an invitation from the Republican leadership to address a joint session of Congress in the midst of his re-election campaign, and then using that pulpit to denounce the potential nuclear deal between Washington and Tehran.
“Netanyahu’s voiced opposition to Palestinian statehood in the final days of the Israel election campaign injected more poison into relations.”
~Nick Bryant, “US raises prospect of Israel UN isolation,” BBC, April 1, 2015.
One of the mantras of the US government aka United States Inc.:
A lie told often enough becomes the truth. ~Vladimir Lenin
“…was just waiting for approval by the university’s Board of Trustees;”
He freely spoke his way out of a potential job. Do you believe if he had expressed these words at the interview stage the school would have been just in not hiring him? Would the school be just to not even consider him for employment if these expressed words were available prior to the interview stage?
He is free to continue uttering these sentiments but will need to find a university that will accept them. I’m certain there are plenty of them out there.