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Al-Arian Site Home
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Major Postings
The Issues
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An Overview of the Entire Controversy
Background: Before Sept. 11
The Year 2001 - 2002
The Year 2002 - 2003
Recent News
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The year 2001 - 2002:
Fall: 9/11/01 - 12/18/01
Aftermath: 12/19/01 - 1/31/02
Second Thoughts: 2/1/02 - 3/19/02
Alarums & Excursions: 3/19/02 - 6/10/02
Summertime: 6/11/02 - 8/20/02
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The Aftermath:
Links from December 19, 2001 to January 31, 2002
Professor al-Arian had been on leave with pay for several months, following
a deluge of complaints and threats that came after he was berated on the
air by Talk Show host Bill O'Reilly.
On Dec. 19, apparently after thinking about it for some time, the Board
recommended that al-Arian be dismissed.
The letter of intent to dismiss was sent immediately.
But then, having sent the letter, the Administration seemed to feel that
the issue required further study ...
And thus began perhaps the most important academic freedom and due process
case in American higher education in years.
These links are in a very rough chronological order.
Again, links marked with an asterisk (*) are to the LEXIS-NEXIS site: this
is restricted to on-campus users and requires that the user do a search;
two asterisks (**) apply to other restrictions.
WARNING ABOUT `LINK ROT':
Some websites take pages down, or restrict access to them, after some
time passes.
So unfortunately, some of the links on these pages will be inoperative.
However, most of the items can be found by searching
lexis-nexis.
Here are links forward to
Current Events, back to
the site map, to
the main Al-Arian page of this site,
and to
the main UFF/USF page.
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They that give up
essential liberty
to obtain ... safety
deserve niether liberty
nor safety.
- Benjamin Franklin
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Previous:
An Autumn Before a Dark Winter
9/11/01 - 12/18/01
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Next:
Second Thoughts
2/1/02 - 3/19/02
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Recommendation to Dismiss
On December 19, 2001, the Board of Trustees met in an Emergency meeting,
on the status of USF computer science Professor Sami al-Arian.
According to the (as yet unofficial) minutes:
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Chairman Richard A. Beard, a real estate advisor with R. A. Beard, Co.,
opened by referring to two critical events for USF: the Sept. 11 attacks
and Professor al-Arian's appearance on the O'Reilly Factor.
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President Genshaft reported that: `When we examine the case of Dr.
Al-Arian, it is clear that academic freedom is not an issue.'
She concluded with: `... the issue before us is how much disruption the
University must endure because of the manner in which a professor exercises
his right to express political and social views that are outside the scope
of his employment.'
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Dean Martin Louis-Vega reported on the financial and security impact on the
College of Engineering.
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USF outside counsel Thomas Gonzalez, who has represented many government and
public agencies in the past (including USF),
stated that al-Arian's failure to issue a disclaimer on the O'Reilly Factor,
his visit on campus on Oct. 5, with the consequent threats, complaints,
security expenditures, outrage from politicians, and decline in donations
constituted sufficient grounds for dismissal.
He cited:
(USF General Counsel R. B. Friedlander later said al-Arian said he did not
know he was prohibited from visiting campus.
As Al-Arian was barred from campus, and hence from the Marshall Center,
where the meeting took place, Al-Arian was unable to address that issue.)
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In the ensuing discussion:
- Thomas Gonzalez claimed that the disruptive effect, and not the content,
of the speech is the legal issue.
- Howard University President Patrick Swygert, the only academic on the
Board, suggested suspending al-Arian without pay.
- Former U.S. Senator for Florida and long-time activist for cancer
research Connie Mack said that free speech was a fundamental principle.
- Several other trustees expressed their concern about the disruption this
case has brought to USF.
- The motion of attorney Rhea Law, Vice Chair of the Board, seconded by
attorney Steven Burton, that
`Based upon the activities by Dr. Al-Arian outside the scope of his
employment, I believe that it has had an adverse impact on the
legitimate interests of the University, and therefore would recommend
to Dr. Genshaft that she take actions to terminate Dr. Al-Arian as
quickly as University processes will allow.' is passed 12-1.
(Incidentally, it was Swygert who cast the dissenting vote.)
Presumably, these reasons for dismissal involved Articles 5 and 16 of the
the BOR-UFF Contract (in pdf) negotiated for 2001-2003 between the
(now disbanded) Florida Board of Regents (of the State University System)
and the United Faculty of Florida.
Letter of Dismissal
On Dec. 19, after the Board of Trustees voted to terminate Professor Al-Arian,
President Genshaft announced her intention to dismiss him.
These reasons for dismissal were enumerated in:
The decision won immediate
support from Florida Governor Jeb Bush and
Florida Secretary of Education Jim Horne.
The Dismissal was explained to faculty:
Media Reactions
Local media organs reported the decision to dismiss:
Opinions were divided on the dismissal:
In general, the St. Petersburg Times had more to say on the issue, and was
more critical of the USF administration:
Meanwhile, there were a few other immediate reactions: here is a
sampling.
And USF/UFF President Roy Weatherford appeared on the
O'Reilly Factor talk show, which featured the following exchange:
- WEATHERFORD: Well, the real troublemakers here are the people who called
up with the death threats for Dr. al-Arian and the president of the
university and the staff--
- O'REILLY: I agree with that.
Meanwhile, on Dec. 21, the American Association of University Professors
Associate General Secretary Jordan Kurland wrote to President Genshaft,
expressing his concern and offering advice.
The AAUP's general concern's about the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, are
described in their page on
`AAUP Speaks Out for Academic Freedom as Faculty and Students Examine the
September 11 Attacks'.
USF/USF Sends a Response to all Faculty
On Jan. 2, the Chapter sent a packet to all members of the UFF/USF bargaining
unit.
Here are:
This was followed by a
letter from Chapter
President Weatherford to USF President Judy Genshaft.
USF Faculty Advisor Resigns
USF Anthropology Professor Elizabeth Bird, faculty advisor to the Provost,
resigned as a matter of principle.
The resignation is reported in:
Professor Bird wrote a letter saying that the
Al-Arian Firing will Threaten us All, which she kindly has permitted us
to post, describing the reasons for her resignation.
Shortly afterwards, on Jan. 9, Professors Steven Johnston (a former Faculty
Senator) and Michael Gibbons sent a
letter to President Genshaft warning that, ` in firing Al-Arian, the
Administration has surrendered to external political and financial pressures.'
Salon.com on the `Witch Hunt'
Salon ran Bruce Shapiro's article on the `Florida Witch Hunt' on Jan. 8.
The Faculty Senate
The Faculty Senate met on Jan. 9, and voted not to support Genshaft's
dismissal, and instead to reform the faculty discipline structure.
At the meeting, Faculty Senator Nancy Tyson reported that according to the
USF Police report on the death threat to Al-Arian phoned into the Department
of Computer Science on Sept. 27, the caller called back approximately an
hour later to apologize; this threat had been featured in administration
statements on the security problem on campus.
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Genshaft described the pressures on the university, incuding: ``we have
also heard from agencies, funding agencies, who are wondering if this
is the right University to send funds to ... .''
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Provost David Stamps told the Faculty Senate that the decision to
terminate Al-Arian had not been made yet.
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Unlike the Board of Trustees, the Faculty Senate permitted Al-Arian to
address the Senate via phone.
A transcript of the meeting is available from the
Faculty Senate website.
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A motion to ``fully support'' President Genshaft and the Board of Trustees
was defeated.
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A motion to create a Committee on Faculty Discipline is passed.
This meeting was reported in:
Then a very strange episode:
*the Dean of Medicine tried to find out how senators from the College had
voted, an innocent endeavor reported in the Jan. 12 Tampa Tribune.
A Resolution of the Chapter
A Resolution to
defend Professor Al-Arian's academic freedom and due process rights was
passed on Jan. 10, 11 meetings of the Membership.
(The resolution also expressed support for Professor Bird's resignation as
faculty advisor.)
This was reported in:
Ellen Schrecker visits
Yeshiva University
History Professor
Ellen Schrecker gave
a lecture on ``Academic Freedom: An Historical Perspective'' on Jan. 11.
Professor Schrecker is a leading authority on the Red Scare: see
an
interview in Summer, 2001 .
Her visit was sponsored by concerned USF faculty, led by UFF member
Fraser Ottanelli.
For more references on the McCarthy era, see
American Dreams and Cultural Crackdowns: The 1950s.
The News Spreads
Soon the story was spreading out.
And Al-Arian vowed to fight:
Meanwhile, back at the tube:
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On Jan. 13, CNN dot COM did a story on
*Al-Arian's brother-in-law, which closed with Cindy Crowley signing off
from in front of a visual of the WTC wreckage.
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On Jan. 14, CNN The Point With Lisa Ling interviewed
*Al-Arian and his attorney and some Hollywood people, Enron people,
and Buckingham observers.
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On Jan. 15, 2001, USF outside counsel Thomas Gonzalez and American Muslim
Alliance executive director Eric Vickers disagree on whether
Bill O'Reilly is to blame:
O'Reilly and Vickers get in a food fight while Gonzalez says that,
`the fairness of it [the current process] comes from the investigation that
the president [Genshaft] conducted and the thought she put into it.'
On Jan. 14, President Genshaft held the first of what would be many meetings
with groups of faculty to discuss the future of USF.
Professor al-Arian repeatedly comes up.
USF Student Reactions
On Jan. 9, the Coalition of Progressive Student Organizations had voted not
to support Genshaft, as reported in the Jan. 17 Oracle story that
the USF Chapter of the Graduate Assistant's Union (UFF-GAU) voted to support
the USF/UFF Chapter.
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The GAU statement read: ``We the University of South Florida Graduate
Assistants United, a sister union of the USF Chapter of the United Faculty
of Florida, support the USF/UFF resolution against the actions of President
Genshaft and the University Board of Trustees in the termination of
Professor Al-Arian.''
USF/UFF is grateful for the GAU's support.
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The Jan. 22 Shanachie published the Letter to President Genshaft from the
USF Coalition of Progressive Organizations.
In it, they state: ``Our decision not to support Dr. Al-Arian's termination
is not tantamount to endorsing his political views,'' and they state that
``... we will continue to support President Genshaft and Mike Griffin as
our leaders ... despite any ... specific deciions that they may make.''
But they say of the Board of Trustees: ``We cannot support a board that is
not part of the campus community.''
But the Student Government voted to support President Genshaft; see also
the story in the St. Petersburg Times.
The Feb. 18 Shanachie would report that there were actually two versions of the
resolution, and that the defeated version would have supported academic
freedom; the large number of abstentions played a part in the politicking,
a fact that won a sharp rebuke in the
Jan. 17 Oracle.
Letters to the Oracle express both sides.
The Road to Dismissal
About now came two stories on how USF had gotten where it is.
Meanwhile, Steven Emerson returned to the Tampa Bay area to criticize Al-Arian
and USF faculty in his warning that
Radical Islam in U.S. still a threat, speaker warns.
Nervousness
People started becoming nervous about the long-range effects of a termination
of a tenured professor.
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On Jan. 18, National Public Radio (Morning Edition) aired a story on
University of South Florida to dismiss Palestinian professor after his
controversial television appearance, which had short interviews with
Al-Arian and USF external counsel Tom Gonzalez, and blurbs from a few
others.
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Martin Dyckman of the St. Petersburg Times said that `USF hasn't learned
from its past' on Jan. 21.
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WUSF 89.7 reported that `USF Board Hears Cost Of Firing Al-Arian' on
Jan. 23, the `cost' meaning $$$.
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Genshaft tested the waters on the USF firing in the St. Pete Times on
Jan. 23.
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The Coalition of Progressive Student Organizations held a rally on Jan.
23, as reported in the Oracle on Jan. 24.
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*But the Tampa Tribune reported President Genshaft's claim of public
support on Jan. 23.
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On Jan. 25, the Advisory Council to the Dean of the College of Arts and
Science passed the resolution: ``In the name of First Amendment Rights
and Academic Freedom, broadly construed, we urge President Judy Genshaft
not to terminate Professor Sami Al-Arian.''
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The USF community was worried about an AAUP censure reported the
St. Petersburg Time on Jan. 27.
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There was almost continuous coverage from local TV stations, with nearly
daily (short) updates.
Mostly bites, but here are a few that stand out:
During the week of Jan. 21 - 25, bumper stickers saying `Defend ACADEMIC
FREEDOM at USF' and buttons saying `I don't SPEAK for USF' start appearing.
Major Players Weigh In
After viewing the situation from their eyries, major media organs began to
speak.
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On Jan. 25, in The Atlantic,
Stuart Taylor did a broader article on `It's Time to Junk the Double
Standard on Free Speech', in which he mentioned the Libertarian
Freedom for Individual Rights in Education FIRE), which on Jan. 29
said thatThe University of
South Florida Betrays the Rule of Law.
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On Jan. 27, the Sunday New York Times ran an editorial
Protecting Speech on Campus, critical of the dismissal.
The Oracle ran the editorial as an advertizement (paid for by UFF) on the
editorial page on Jan. 31.
The New York Times ran
*President Genshaft's response on Feb. 3, in which she said that
`... [Professor Al-Arian's] outside activities have led to
endangerment of students, faculty and staff, and disruption of academic
programs.'
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CBS News 48 Hours Jan. 30 story on
Tracking Terror
was about unforgivable inflammatory speech by Muslim leader Abdurahaman
Alamoudi, forgivable inflammatory speech by journalist Steven Emerson,
and more serious if more nebulous accusations against Al-Arian.
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Time magazine ran an article on `Fighting Words: Can a tenured professor be
fired for his pro-Muslim views? In a post-Sept. 11 America, all bets are
off' in their Feb. 4 issue.
And a few other media organs had something to say.
And campus newspapers put their oars in:
Breaking a deadline
So is Al-Arian going to be fired?
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Previous:
An Autumn Before a Dark Winter
9/11/01 - 12/18/01
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Next:
Second Thoughts
2/1/02 - 3/19/02
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Al-Arian Site Home
USF/UFF Site Home
Major Postings
The Issues
Contact Us
Site Map
|
An Overview of the Entire Controversy
Background: Before Sept. 11
The Year 2001 - 2002
The Year 2002 - 2003
Recent News
|
The year 2001 - 2002:
Fall: 9/11/01 - 12/18/01
Aftermath: 12/19/01 - 1/31/02
Second Thoughts: 2/1/02 - 3/19/02
Alarums & Excursions: 3/19/02 - 6/10/02
Summertime: 6/11/02 - 8/20/02
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