[Peace-discuss] Dismissal of Dr. Sami A. Al-Arian (fwd)

[Al Kagan]

FYI.  I urge people to send e-mail messages in support of the free 
speech rights of this faculty member in Florida.

>Delivered-To: akagan at alexia.lis.uiuc.edu
>Date: Sat, 22 Dec 2001 11:17:34 -0500 (EST)
>From: Frederick W Stoss <fstoss at acsu.buffalo.edu>
>To: SRRT Action Council <srrtac-l at ala.org>
>Subject: [SRRTAC-L:7341] ALA Members: Dismissal of Dr. Sami A. Al-Arian (fwd)
>Reply-To: srrtac-l at ala.org
>Sender: owner-srrtac-l at ala.org
>Status:  
>
>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>Date: Fri, 21 Dec 2001 21:07:45 -0500
>From: Tom Baxter <tombaxter at talstar.com>
>To: florida whose <whoseflorida at yahoo.com>,
>      Library Progressive <plgnet-l at listproc.sjsu.edu>
>Subject: Dismissal of Dr. Sami A. Al-Arian
>
>Let us hope after Dr. Al-Arin wins his illegal dismissal case against
>USF, the money he receives will make up for the trouble he is going
>through. 
>USF's President, Judy Genshaft, address is below if you wish to express
>your thoughts in writing.
>
>
>
>Statement by Tampa Bay Coalition for Justice and Peace:
>
>The Dismissal of Dr. Sami A. Al-Arian by the University of South Florida
>is Politically Motivated and Unconstitutional
>
>Contact: Abe Kader (tbcjp at yahoo.com)
>     
>December 20, 2001
>
>Tampa-
>University of South Florida president Judy Genshaft's decision yesterday
>to dismiss Dr. Sami A. Al-Arian from his tenured position at the
>university is clearly an affront to principles of free speech and
>academic freedom, principles that have been sacrosanct and protected in
>the U.S. constitution throughout American history. Genshaft's decision
>was undoubtedly politically motivated- because of Dr. Sami Al-Arian's
>political opinions. It is a blatant abuse of the power and authority
>that the academic community entrusts in a university president. If there
>is any institution that must be protected from political influence or
>pressure, it is the university campus. Hence, this wrong decision will
>have a huge negative effect on the academic community as well as an
>enormous impact in chilling free speech.
>        
>President Genshaft provided flimsy and flawed reasons to dismiss Dr.
>Al-Arian. The four reasons she cited for her unjust decision are:
>1) that he did not make clear that his off-campus speeches reflected his
>views and not the university's,
>2) that he is insubordinate because he visited the campus once after he
>was put on paid leave,
>3) that USF fundraising and other activities were hurt by the national
>media coverage, and
>4) the amount of disruption and security concerns that the university
>has to deal with because of the controversy and the death threats. We
>will address the legitimacy of each one of these claims.
>     
>First, Dr. Al-Arian never claimed to speak on behalf of the university
>before, during, or after his appearance on FOX news on September 26. In
>fact, in his open letter to the community on October 4, 2001, he stated:
>"I also told [the FOX producer] that although I was on the faculty of
>USF, I'd like to be introduced as chairman of the coalition that was
>established to defend civil rights and political freedom."  Since that
>appearance, Dr. Al-Arian was interviewed many times by many reporters
>who jokingly asked whether he spoke on behalf of USF to which the answer
>was obvious. Many excerpts of his speeches that were shown on TV were
>from old speeches dating back 10 or even 13 years.
>
>The only public speech that Dr. Al-Arian gave since his paid leave began
>on September 27 was at the Amnesty International Human Rights day on
>December 9, 2001. He spoke for 20 minutes about civil rights concerns,
>especially the case of Dr. Al-Najjar and the use of secret evidence. It
>was clear that the speech represented his views.  More pointedly, does
>anyone in their right mind think that when any of the thousands of USF
>professors speak that they would speak on behalf of the university? Even
>if any of the professors speaks on any issue including his or her
>specialty, does anyone think that they speak on behalf of the
>university? Does the standard that the USF president apply to Professor
>Al-Arian apply to all other USF professor?
>
>As for the violation that Dr. Al-Arian defied the administration in
>coming to campus on October 5 after being warned not to come to campus
>earlier, that is simply untrue. On the day that he was put on paid leave
>that issue never came up. When the Provost sent a letter to Dr. Al-Arian
>giving him a so-called "final warning" for coming to campus, Dr.
>Al-Arian wrote back that he was not aware that he could not come to
>campus. This condition was never communicated to him neither in his
>letter nor in any other manner. Dr. Al-Arian was on campus on October 5
>in his capacity as an advisor to the USF Muslim Students' Association
>(MSA). Dr. Al-Arian has not set foot on campus since that date but the
>so-called "final warning" was not final after all.
>
>As for the other two reasons given by the USF President, it is clear
>that it falls in a "blame the victim" type argument. Instead of
>prosecuting the perpetrators of the death threats, the USF
>administrators are punishing the victim of the death threats. The most
>dangerous death threat that USF received was on September 27. According
>to the USF police report, the terrorist that threatened to kill Dr.
>Al-Arian and threatened the computer science department called the
>second day and said that:  "He couldn't control himself", and " did not
>mean to harm or frighten anyone. And that he was sorry." The report also
>said: "He sounded very proper, no noticeable accents. His voice was
>Caucasian."
>
>It is not clear why other death threats were not investigated or
>prosecuted since many of them were easily traceable. Rev. Sharon
>Streater of the Hillsborough Organization for Progress and Equality
>(HOPE), who attended the USF Board of Trustees meeting said: "Though I
>am not a student or a professor, I was there for the whole sad event. 
>It was very depressing to observe the lack of courage and the classic
>"blame the victim" syndrome.  What I witnessed was a horrible example of
>so-called leadership teaching bad lessons about how to get trustees to
>vote your way!"
>
>The disruption that the university had to endure has nothing to do with
>Dr. Al-Arian's actions. The sensationalism of some media outlets and
>their inaccurate and biased reporting after the September 11 tragedy was
>beyond his control. Most of his appearances were in conjunction to
>condemn the September 11 horrible crimes and to defend Islam as
>President Bush has urged the nation. Furthermore, the failure of some
>USF administrators to deal with the irrational behavior of some only
>exacerbated the problem. They fell victim to the real perpetrators of
>terrorism on campus.
>        
>We call upon USF President Genshaft to reconsider her haste decision in
>the hopes of protecting academic freedom and defending First Amendment
>rights.  Please contact President Genshaft with your call for the
>reinstatement of Dr. Al-Arian.  His loss sets a tragic precedent for us
>all.
>
>President Judy Genshaft
>University of South Florida
>Office of the President 
>4202 E. Fowler Ave.
>Tampa, FL 33620
>(813) 974-2791
>(813) 974-5530 (fax)
>jgensha at admin.usf.edu
>
>     End.
>  *****************************  
>
>December 19, 2001
>Tampa-  According to press reports, the Board of Trustees of the
>University of South Florida voted today to dismiss Dr. Sami Al-Arian
>from his tenured professor position at USF. Former USF Faculty senate
>without any notice or due process afforded to Dr. Al-Arian." It's also
>quite disturbing that many statements that were said at the meeting were
>factually incorrect including the allegation that Dr. Al-Arian ever
>spoke on behalf of USF.  
>
>Dr. Al-Arian's attorney Robert A. Cannella has said: "At this time, Dr.
>Al-Arian will refrain from making any comments on this matter. Dr.
>Al-Arian is considering all the options available to him in order to
>insure that his rights are protected."
>
>     End.
>**************************
>The flawed logic of the university's case for firing controversial
>professor Sami Al-Arian sets dangerous precedents for USF's future
>governance.
>
>St. Petersburg Times, published December 21, 2001
>
>There might be a case to be made for firing University of South Florida
>computer science professor Sami Al-Arian, whose activities in support of
>Palestinian extremist groups have gotten him in trouble over the years.
>Unfortunately, the craven charade USF president Judy Genshaft and other
>university officials acted out on Wednesday didn't make that case. Even
>worse, the pretext established for firing Al-Arian set a terrible
>precedent  for USF's future governance under a new Board of Trustees.
>
>In the course of trying to show that the case against Al-Arian was about
>something -- anything -- other than his controversial opinions, USF
>officials  made several dubious and dangerous arguments:
>
>Al-Arian violated his employment contract by failing to make clear, in
>his  recent appearance on Fox News Channel's The O'Reilly Factor and in
>other  forums, that he was not speaking as an official representative of
>USF.
>
>Does anybody really believe such a disclaimer was necessary? Al-Arian is
>one  of thousands of USF faculty members, and no sane person would
>assume that his  hateful statements about the governments of Israel and
>the United States  reflect the views of the USF administration. For
>better or worse, Genshaft  and the trustees do speak for the university,
>and they have had every  opportunity to distance themselves from
>Al-Arian's remarks.
>
>Al-Arian's controversial comments have harmed USF's fundraising efforts
>and  created security problems on campus.
>
>Ensuring the safety of students and staff is a fundamental
>responsibility of  any university. Security concerns led Genshaft to
>suspend Al-Arian with pay  several weeks ago. Fundraising and student
>recruitment also are vital  university concerns. However, the freedom of
>expression of members of the  university community should not be held
>hostage to the sensitivities of every  current or potential donor, much
>less those of every crackpot who calls in a  death threat. By the
>contorted logic USF officials used Wednesday, any  student or faculty
>member could be run off campus if his words offended enough donors,
>lawmakers or threatening cranks. USF trustee Connie Mack, the former
>U.S. senator, raised that concern during Wednesday's discussion, but
>he ultimately joined the majority in calling for Al-Arian's removal.
>Only  Howard University president Patrick Swygert, the USF board's only
>academician, cast a dissenting vote.
>
>Al-Arian violated his understanding with USF officials this fall when he
>returned to campus after being put on paid leave.
>
>In fact, Al-Arian generally has abided by the restrictions placed on him
>by  the university in recent years. USF's more serious concerns with
>Al-Arian  date back more than a decade, when he misled administrators
>about the nature  of the World and Islam Studies Enterprise, a supposed
>Middle Eastern think  tank he established under USF auspices. That
>misadventure could have cost  Al-Arian his job -- but firing Al-Arian
>then also would have invited more  scrutiny of the judgment of officials
>who chose to give USF's imprimatur to a  political organization run by
>an Islamic extremist with no academic expertise in Middle Eastern
>studies. That may explain why the matter was quietly put to rest at the
>time.
>
>WISE was disbanded long ago. Al-Arian has a good record as a computer
>science  professor and has never been charged with a crime. The
>incendiary comments  that have him in trouble now were made years ago.
>The only new element of the  story is that, in the wake of the Sept. 11
>terrorist attacks, Al-Arian's  irresponsible words and actions from
>years ago were resurrected in ways that  have made life miserable for
>USF administrators.
>
>Academic freedom is not absolute even for tenured professors, and
>Al-Arian  overstepped his bounds a decade ago. But in contriving a
>belated excuse for  getting rid of a nuisance now, USF officials may
>have left the university  vulnerable to much more serious encroachments
>on its academic integrity in the future.
>
>--
>Speak Truth to Power
>
>Tom Baxter, USA 66-69, Vietnam  67-69
>
>Progressive Librarians http://www.libr.org/PL/index.html
>
>VVAW http://www.prairienet.org/vvaw/
>
>Veterans for Peace http://www.veteransforpeace.org/
>
>PO Box 10358, Tallahassee, Florida 32302-9752
>
>W  850-414-3300  H  850-893-7390
>
>When you absolutely, positively have to know, ask a librarian.

-- 


Al Kagan
African Studies Bibliographer and Professor of Library Administration
Africana Unit, Room 328
University of Illinois Library
1408 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61801, USA

tel. 217-333-6519
fax. 217-333-2214
e-mail. akagan at uiuc.edu