The first year started with Professor Al Arian suspended on September 27 after he appeared on Fox TV's Bill O'Reilly Factor show, where he was accused of having terrorist connections. Subsequently, USF received 14 threats serious enough to investigate, as well as a lot of negative mail and negative publicity. On December 19, the Administration sent Al-Arian a letter of dismissal; later the Administration said that Al-Arian wasn't fired so much as subject to being fired. The Faculty Senate refused to support the Administration, the United Faculty of Florida opposed the Administration, the Student Government supported the Administration, and off-campus reactions were similarly mixed. As the Administration spent Spring and Summer trying to work out what to do, the American Association of University Professors investigated while the United Faculty of Florida worked to defend the contract that lay at the heart of the dispute between Al Arian and USF.

This tale is one of many that began, if in media res, with the carnage of September 11, 2001. Two weeks after the attack, Al-Arian appeared on the O'Reilly Factor show to talk about Muslims in America --- and wound up being accused of supporting terrorism. Amidst threats and political pressures, USF President Genshaft placed Al-Arian on paid leave on Sept. 27. The story spread across the nation, as one of several stories of academic freedom in peril, for most of the castigation of Al-Arian was directed at his politics (no one announced any solid, specific evidence of any crimes Al-Arian might have committed, despite O'Reilly's accusations). For three months, the situation simmered.

• A Shadow over New York. USF closed on Sept. 11, but reopened on Sept. 12 with reassurances to students, expert counsel to the public, and even sent some robots to help with the search at the World Trade Center.
• The Great Fear. Within hours, Muslims in America were worried that they might be blamed or even demonized in a backlash.
• Body Blow. On Sept. 26, Professor Al-Arian appeared on the O'Reilly Factor, ostensibly to talk about Muslim support for America. But O'Reilly spent the time hurling accusations at Al-Arian, accusations that were quickly picked up by the press and echoed in angry phone calls and mail, and threats, to Al-Arian personally and to USF in general. On Sept. 27, Al-Arian was suspended.
• The Story has Wings. Despite, or because of, the suspension, the story spread across the nation, and further.
• On Campus. As September ended, as USF President Judy Genshaft reported to the Board of Trustees, USF Student Government President Michael Griffin and USF/UFF Chapter President Roy Weatherford appeared on the O'Reilly Factor (Genshaft refused to appear, much to O'Reilly's irritation).
• Off Campus. Early October, and columnists opined, news was reported, and a number of people appeared on television.
• Darkness at Noon. Across the country, academics were being targeted for apparent insufficient flag-waving.
• Pressure. Meanwhile, because of the economy and politics in Tallahassee, USF is being subjected to unusually severe external pressures.
• Consultation. On Oct. 11, USF/UFF President Weatherford (and other USF/UFF officers) met with USF President Genshaft (and other USF officials) to discuss Al-Arian. Genshaft defended her decision to unilaterally suspend Al-Arian, but said that she wanted Al-Arian to come back.
• Grace ... and otherwise ... under pressure. USF President Genshaft explained her position to faculty and the public while on Oct. 17, the USF Faculty Senate supported suspending Al-Arian. Meanwhile Dateline ran a somewhat garbled piece on the entire affair.
• A Statement on Academic Freedom. On Nov. 1, members of the USF/UFF Executive Committee published A Statement on Academic Freedom.
• Developments. In November, the Administration claimed that Al-Arian violated an oral instruction; Al-Arian claimed not to have received this instruction. (This alleged insubordination, which was to not visit USF campus, would become a major item in the rationale to dismiss Al-Arian.) Meanwhile, the INS swooped down on Al-Arian's brother-in-law, citing secret evidence.
• Christmas Break. Things appeared to be quieting down, but the USF Administration does have a history of making controversial decisions over vacations.

In the beginning, Professor Al-Arian was fired on Dec. 19; later the Administration said that he hadn't been fired ... yet. While most commentators disapproved of Al-Arian's political positions (and his language), many were concerned about the USF Administration's rationale for dismissal. UFF (the USF Faculty chapter, the GAU chapter, and the state local) and the USF Faculty Senate all condemned the dismissal, while the Student Government supported it. The press was all over the map on the issue.

• Recommendation to Dismiss. This section covers the Dec. 19 meeting of the Board of Trustees, in which the BOT recommended that Al-Arian be dismissed.
• Letter of Dimissal. Wasting no time, a Letter of Dismissal was sent on Dec. 19, and was instantly endorsed by Governor Jeb Bush and Florida Secretary of Education Jim Horne.
• Media Reactions were more mixed, and came from around the nation. The AAUP was concerned. The USF Chapter of UFF sent out a packet to all faculty, including a myth/fact sheet. USF Faculty Advisor to the Provost Elizabeth Bird resigned in protest.
• The Faculty Senate and UFF. On Jan. 9, the USF Faculty Senate chose not to support what had become a proposal to dismiss Al-Arian. On Jan. 10, 11, the USF Chapter of UFF announced its intention to help defend Al-Arian's academic freedom and due process rights.
• The ruckus only grows. UFF invited Ellen Schrecker, and expert on academic freedom, to speak at its first Freedom Forum to remind people of the McCarthy era, while Al-Arian continued to be national news.
• Students were more divided: the Student Government voted to support Genshaft, while the USF/UFF-Graduate Students Union and the Coalition of Progressive Student Organizations opposed dismissal.
• The rest of January. Now the Atlantic, the New York Times, Salon.com, and Time magazine to weigh in, while the USF community worried about the consequences of a dismissal. January ended with Genshaft announcing that she was still undecided about what to do.

During January, Al-Arian had gone from dismissed effective in ten days to possibly dismissed, decision to be made by the end of the month. Come February, and Al-Arian was on some kind of paid suspension, and President Genshaft had decided to gauge campus and public opinion. At the end of March, the American Association of University Professors sent a team to USF to investigate.

• Pundit-Watch and beyond. By now, columnists around the nation were expressing their opinions. On Feb. 6, the Chronicle of Higher Education ran a cover story on ``Blaming the Victim'' (available to subscribers) and had a live on-line colloquy with Al-Arian. The division was largely between those who wanted Al-Arian fired for his politics and those who defended Al-Arian's rights despite his politics.
• The debate continued as the American Association of University Professors announced on Feb. 6 that its Committee A would send a team of investigators to USF. This is the first step of a process that could lead to censure, and some were alarmed. Meanwhile, Al-Arian visited places around the nation, giving his side.
• Two significant developments. On Feb. 20, there was a demonstration defending Al-Arian's rights ... and a counter-demonstration. And interim U.S. Attorney Mac Cauley announced that after about six years, the FBI is still investigating Professor al-Arian --- but has nothing to report.
• Two more events amidst the growing nervousness. The UFF Chapter at USF held its annual election in early March. And in the second Freedom Forum, Robert O'Neil, Director of the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression, and former President of the Universities of Virginia and Wisconsin gave a talk on the law of academic freedom on March 7.
• The AAUP team investigating the Al-Arian case visited on March 15, 16, 17, and the Chairman, William van Alstyne, former Deputy Attorney-General of California and William R. & Thomas S. Perkins Chair of Law at Duke University, revisited on March 21. The team would write a report for Committee A, which in turn would make its recommendation to the AAUP, probably in Summer, 2003.

The Spring semester ended with every sign that the controversy was going to continue expanding. The Federal government raided a number of organizations associated with a long-defunct Saudi charity, which brought Al-Arian back in the news because his own long-defunct institutes had received some funds from an organization that had received some funds from ... . Meanwhile, Florida Holocaust Museum President John Loftus launched a highly publicized lawsuit against Al-Arian, claiming that Loftus had just mailed a nominal donation to Al-Arian's now-nonexistent institutes, and claiming that the institutes had been guilty of financial misconduct, and thus that Loftus was a victim of fraud perpetrated by Al-Arian.

• Alarms and Investigations. On March 20, Customs officials raided 14 targets in Virginia, including one that had had ties to Al-Arian's WISE and ICP.
• Repurcussions. The raids were not followed by arrests, indictments, etc., and practically the only thing that followed from the raids were complaints from Muslims and civil libertarians.
• John Loftus, former Justice lawyer and now Presidend of the Florida Holocaust Museum, on March 20 accused Saudis of supporting terrorism, accused the US government of protecting the Saudis, claimed credit for the raids, and sued Al-Arian for fraud.
• Speeches. On March 28, David Cole of Georgetown University, an attorney for Al-Arian's brother-in-law, gave a speech at USF. So did Loftus, on April 8. And Al-Arian gave speeches at UNC Chapel Hill and UF Gainesville. There were also a lot of end-of-the-semester reflections and retrospectives.
• The third USF UFF Freedom Forum was on the Johns Committee, a legislative investigative committee that initially pursued civil rights workers in the late 1950s and wound up hunting homosexuals in the early 1960s. Pressured by the Johns Committee and other groups, the USF Administration mistreated some faculty during the early 1960s, and was censured by the American Association of University Professors in 1964. (For more on this, see Cold warriors in the hot sunshine: USF and the Johns Committee (in .pdf), in the Sunland Tribune.) The Third Forum was a panel discussion by an expert and some USF people with long memories.
• In June, Loftus's suit was thrown out for technical reasons, but he was permitted to resubmit. And Genshaft announced that she would make her decision on Al-Arian ``by August.''

During Summer, the university slows down. That was especially true this Summer, when debilitating budgetary cutbacks resulted in a skeletal Summer program. So even fewer faculty and students were at USF than usual. Nevertheless, the various gears in the machine continued to move, producing manifestations here and there, while all the time, observers were waiting for August, when President Genshaft would announce her decision.

• Loftus Suit Dismissed ... Sort of. The court bounces John Loftus's suit against Al-Arian, and he is given twenty days to fix it.
• A Timely Reminder. The American Federation of Teachers, of which the Florida Education of America (UFF's affiliate) is affiliated (jointly with the National Education Association) announces its support of Al-Arian's contractual rights.
• More Islamic Jihad Accusations. There are reports that the Israeli government might know something incriminating about Al-Arian's conduct, and there were controversies over how incriminating this something might be.
• Loftus Redux. Loftus comes back in court, his suit fixed up.
• Back in the Limelight. Al-Arian's name surfaces in a lot of news stories.
• Meanwhile .... And many people have opinions about him.
• Anticipation. In late July and early August, observers are waiting for USF to decide what to do.