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.

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:

• 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.
• 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.'
• Dean Martin Louis-Vega reported on the financial and security impact on the College of Engineering.
• 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:
  • PICKERING v. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF TOWNSHIP HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT 205, WILL COUNTY , and
  • CYNTHIA WATERS, ET AL., PETITIONERS v. CHERYL R. CHURCHILL, ET AL. , and
  • RANKIN ET AL. v. McPHERSON .
  (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.)
• 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.)

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 letter of dismissal.
• Genshaft's announcement.

• In a letter from Provost David Stamps.
• In a letter from President Genshaft.

• The Dec. 21 Sarasota Herald-Tribune added that O'Reilly condemns firing of Al-Arian.
• The Tampa Tribune 12/21/01: USF Decides To Fire Al-Arian.
• The St. Petersburg Times 12/20/01: USF to dismiss Al-Arian.
• The Oracle reports `Al-Arian fired during break' in its back-to-school edition on Jan. 7.
• The Jan. 7 edition of the campus alternative newspaper Shanachie said that `It was obvious that the firing of professor Sami Al-Arian was a legal-lynching from the beginning.'
• The Jan. 7 - Feb. 17 Faculty Forum reported that Swygert had said that a suspension without pay ``... would demonstrate that we ... are bigger than our antagonist.''

• *Tampa Tribune 12/20/01: USF Gets Rid Of A Hatemonger.
• *St. Petersburg Times 12/21/01: USF's charade.

• *The Times reported comparisons made between this case and past cases on Dec. 22.
• *Howard Troxler was skeptical of the rationale for dismissal on Dec. 22. Trustee Rhea Law responded by saying that Al-Arian was not fired because of donor complaints, but of the disruption.
• The Tampa Tribune was slower, and more mixed, as seen in this column by Dan Ruth: Hey, Way To Go, Judy! Then Again, Bad, Bad, Judy! on Dec. 26.

• NWCN.com reported an AP story on the dismissal on Dec. 19.
• Abe Kador of the Tampa Bay Coalition for Justice and Peace published a release, Tampa Professor Fired for Political Beliefs: The Dismissal of Dr. Sami A. Al-Arian by the University of South Florida is Politically Motivated and Unconstitutional in Refuse & Resist.
• On Dec. 20, 28 Tampa Bay News At 6 aired a clip of *Jeb Bush applauding the dismissal, saying the President and board of trustees made the right decision.
• **The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that `U. of South Florida Fires Professor Involved in Talk-Show Controversy' on Dec. 20.
• The Washington Post reported that `Controversial Professor to Be Fired' on Dec. 20.
• The Sacramento Bee reported that `University of South Florida to fire professor with alleged ties to terrorists' on Dec. 20.
• St. Augustine.com reports that `USF president moved to fire professor linked to terrorism' on Dec. 20.
• CNN said that `Alleged terrorist links cost prof job' on Dec. 20.
• Rueters said that `Fla. university fires Arab professor over security' on Dec. 20.
• Kuro5hin worried that `Tenured University of South Florida CS Professor Fired' on Dec. 21.
• A Working For Change columnist attributed the dismissal to a `post-9/11 conservative correctness on Dec. 21.
• *The Boston Herald said ``This prof had to go'' on Dec. 23.
• BLR Reports/HR News said, `Palestinian Professor to be Fired' on Dec. 24.
• Michelle Chihara saw the dismissal as part of a pattern in `The Silence On Terrorism' in Black World Today (from Alternet) on Dec. 26.
• On Dec. 27, the Palm Beach Post said Mob rule at university.
• A number of people sent letters directly to President Genshaft, including this one from Vincent Cannistraro, Chief of Counterintelligence Operations at the CIA from 1988 to 1990, which he has kindly permitted us to post.

• 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.

• On Jan. 7, Insight ran an article on *Domestic Front in The War on Terror about the National Coalition to Protect Political Freedom (NCPPF), which the article claimed was hampering the U.S. government's investigations into terrorists and supporters of terrorists, including, according the to article, Al-Arian.
• On Jan. 11, HR on Campus posted an account of University of South Florida trustees vote to dismiss professor.

On Jan. 2, the Chapter sent a packet to all members of the UFF/USF bargaining unit. Here are:

• The Cover Letter by chapter President Roy Weatherford.
• A Fact Sheet on how the dismissal was made.

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:

• TampaBayLive.com on Jan. 4.
• St. Petersburg Times on Jan. 4.

Salon.com on the `Witch Hunt'

Salon ran Bruce Shapiro's article on the `Florida Witch Hunt' on Jan. 8.

• Before the meeting, Faculty Senate President asked Senator Sherman Dorn to compose a memorandum on academic freedom cases (in pdf) (see also errata).

• 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 ... .''
• Provost David Stamps told the Faculty Senate that the decision to terminate Al-Arian had not been made yet.
• Unlike the Board of Trustees, the Faculty Senate permitted Al-Arian to address the Senate via phone.

• A motion to ``fully support'' President Genshaft and the Board of Trustees was defeated.
• A motion to create a Committee on Faculty Discipline is passed.

• The Tampa Tribune on Jan. 11.
• The St. Petersburg Times on Jan. 10.
• The Oracle on Jan. 10.
• The PBS station WUSF on Jan. 10.

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:

• The Oracle on Jan. 11. The Oracle praised the Chapter's action in an editorial on Jan. 14.
• On Jan. 11, the Tampa Tribune thought that faculty support for Al-Arian was disingenuous. But the Tribune published the response, Al-Arian's Firing Jeopardizes USF Faculty Tenure Rights by USF Anthropology Professor Susan Greenbaum, on Jan. 20.
• The St. Petersburg Times on Jan. 11.
• The Oracle reported the support of the statewide union for the chapter on Jan. 14.
• The USF/UFF Chapter newsletter Uncommon Sense reported these developments, and carried editorials on due process and academic freedom in a special edition.

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.

• On Jan. 2, from Copenhagen, ComputerWorld reported the facts in Der Denunzierte SAMI AL-ARIAN and concluded with a barb at Mr O'Reilly.
• The January/February issue (16, # 4-5) of The Gainesville Iguana, an alternative newsletter, said that Palestinian professor railroaded in South Florida campus witchhunt.
• The Jan. 8 Buzzle reported a Florida Witch Hunt.
• The Jan. 11 University of Michigan Daily editorialized that *Prof shouldn't have been fired for expressing beliefs.
• Congressman David Bonior, who had received a substantial campaign contribution from Al-Arian, said on the Jan. 10 MSNBC News that he won't return it; see also the Jan. 8 story in the Lansing State Journal. (The Dawson Bell of the Detroit Free Press on Jan. 14 suggested that Bonior may benefit from refusal to denounce donors).
• The Jan. 12 Orlando Sentinel reported that Professor's terrorist links divide university in Tampa.
• Salon ran Vickie Chachere's article on `Palestinian professor to fight University of South Florida' on Jan. 14.
• On Jan. 14, the North Carolina State University Technician editorialized that `` *As much as we may despise Al-Arian and fundamentalists like him, we must admit that his firing was off base.''
• The Americas.org reported that PALESTINIAN PROFESSOR FIRED.
• *The Guardian reported that `US university sacks Palestinian' on Jan. 15.
• *The Australian reported that `Professor's sacking raises a stink' on Jan. 16

• The Tampa Tribune on Jan. 15. *The St. Petersburg Times on Jan. 15.

• 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.
• On Jan. 14, CNN The Point With Lisa Ling interviewed *Al-Arian and his attorney and some Hollywood people, Enron people, and Buckingham observers.
• 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. 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.

• 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.
• 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.''

• The St. Petersburg Times and the *Associated Press reported on Jan. 19 that the Board of Trustees had been working on the dismissal for some time.
• Salon.com ran Eric Boehlert's article on `The prime-time smearing of Sami Al-Arian' on Jan. 19.

Nervousness

People started becoming nervous about the long-range effects of a termination of a tenured professor.

• 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.
• Martin Dyckman of the St. Petersburg Times said that `USF hasn't learned from its past' on Jan. 21.
• WUSF 89.7 reported that `USF Board Hears Cost Of Firing Al-Arian' on Jan. 23, the `cost' meaning $$$.
• Genshaft tested the waters on the USF firing in the St. Pete Times on Jan. 23.
• The Coalition of Progressive Student Organizations held a rally on Jan. 23, as reported in the Oracle on Jan. 24.
• *But the Tampa Tribune reported President Genshaft's claim of public support on Jan. 23.
• 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.''
• The USF community was worried about an AAUP censure reported the St. Petersburg Time on Jan. 27.
• There was almost continuous coverage from local TV stations, with nearly daily (short) updates. Mostly bites, but here are a few that stand out:
  • On Jan. 10, Local First News at 6 pm aired a story on *Al-Arian and Michigan Representative David Bonior, the former having given campaign contributions to the latter.
  • Jan. 16 Fox 13 News at Noon: Al-Arian's attorney notes Al-Arian's ferocious rhetoric was over 12 years old.
  • Jan. 17 Fox 13 News at Noon: Raanan Levy criticizes what Al-Arian said a decade ago.

Major Players Weigh In

• 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.
• 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.'
• 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.
• 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.

• The I-News worried about people defending free speech in principle --- but not in practice.
• CBS News reported the publication of Steven Emerson's new book, American Jihad, and Al-Arian's reaction, on Jan. 30.
• CBS 48 hours on Jan. 30 aired a story on *Under fire; the Investigative Project run by Steve Emerson may be mistakenly targeting people as terrorist supporters who are not.

• The Jan. 22 Wayne State University South End columnist Ali Moossavi warned Don't believe the hype!, warning about the backlash to Sept. 11.
• The Jan. 28 Ohio State University Lantern editorialized that *U. South Florida professor deserves freedom of speech.
• The Jan. 29 Brown Daily Herald editorialized in Outside Politics: Academic Freedom since Sept. 11 that universities were in danger of becoming politicized.

Breaking a deadline

So is Al-Arian going to be fired?

• On Jan. 30, USF President Genshaft announced that she was pushing back a Feb. 1 deadline on deciding whether to dismiss Al-Arian. She made this announcement during a contentious meeting with Graduate and Professional Student Organization, as reported in the Feb. 1 Oracle and the Jan. 31 *Tampa Tribune, which said `Academics urge her to reconsider firing'. The Feb. 18 Shanachie also covered this meeting, reporting concerns that the dismissal of Al-Arian and censuring by the AAUP would damage the credibility of USF.
• On Jan. 29, President Alan Kors of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education sent an open letter to President Genshaft `to express our gravest concern about the threat to free speech and academic freedom posed by your intention to terminate Professor Sami Al-Arian.'
• The Weekly Planet published a cumulative article called ``Spin Doctorates'' in the Jan. 30 issue.