The Dismissal of Dr. Sami A. Al-Arian by the University of South Florida is Politically Motivated and Unconstitutional
Statement by Tampa Bay Coalition for Justice and Peace
Contact: Abe Kader (tbcjp@yahoo.com)
December 20, 2001
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@admin.usf.edu
End.
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only.
[posted 12/23/01]
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