September

The Fall semester began just as the initial wave of reactions began to recede, so while the rest of the world returned to its daily business, faculty, students, and staff at USF were reminded by recapitulations and new rationales of what was going on.

• On Aug. 27, Al-Arian held a press conference to make a comparison.
  • On Aug. 22, a Robert Goldstein of Seminole, a town in the Tampa Bay metropolitan area, was arrested after deputies answering a domestic disturbance call found a substantial array of weapons at his home. The Pinellas County sheriff's department announced that it had found 20 illegal bombs and plans for attacking an ``Islamic Education Center.'' For more information, here are three stories on the affair from the St. Petersburg Times: Aug. 24: Podiatrist's arsenal part of blueprint for terror: In addition to weapons, detailed plans to bomb Islamic schools and mosques are found in his Seminole home, records say; Aug. 27: Search in alleged plot goes on: The governor reassures Florida's Muslims as agents investigating a Seminole podiatrist search for more evidence; Aug. 28: Doctor's mental state issue in alleged plot: Robert Jay Goldstein's lawyer said Goldstein has a ''history of emotional disturbance''.
  • At the Aug. 27 press conference, Al-Arian claimed that ``every time there is a terrorist plot, if it doesn't involve a Muslim it's no longer a story,'' as reported in the Aug. 28 USF Oracle article Al-Arian says media unfair: Sami Al-Arian criticizes government officials and the media for what he calls a lackluster response to a would-be terrorist's plot.
  • Similar sentiments were described in the Sept. 2 AP story *Tampa Muslims: There's a double standard in bomb plot's handling. University of Florida sociology professor Joe Feagin said, ``Their contention that this case is being investigated less vigorously may be exaggerating a bit, but the underlying point they're making - that Arab-Americans have been badly stereotyped and discriminated against - is accurate.''
• On Aug. 28, Ronald Radosh's column on The Day Judy Genshaft Stood Up to Islamic Jihad ran in the New York Sun (and was later posted by Front Page magazine). Mr Radosh compares Al-Arian with communist agents subverting America during the 1950s, and the defenders of Al-Arian's rights with the ``useful idiots'' that defended the rights of communists and other un-American types.
• On Aug. 30, Harris Freier of the University of Virginia Cavalier Daily wrote a column asking Academic Freedom or Disruption? He writes, `` The issue is not about guilt or innocence. The issue is about disrupting a school and placing it in a negative light.''
• On Sept. 3, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation ran a story *Caught in the crossfire, on ``how many Arabs and Muslims [in America] have come to feel betrayed,'' focussing on three: an American citizen kicked off a plane, Al-Arian and his sister-in-law Feda Al-Najjar.
• On Sept. 4, the USF Oracle said that All eyes on Al-Arian, Genshaft: Problematic professor is getting more media attention than ever, yet Genshaft remains silent. The story contrasts Al-Arian's frequent public statements with USF President Genshaft's relatively few statements. There is also the exchange between BOT Chair Dick Beard saying, ``When you've got a cancer, you've got to deal with it,'' and Al-Arian retorting, ``I don't think I should resort to name calling,'' but adding that Beard ``is not an academic.''
• In the Sept. 16 (LIV.17) issue of National Review, the journal said in *The Week that ``It is a rare occurrence when university officials do the right thing, and so we applaud Judy Genshaft, president of the University of South Florida, all the more loudly for her decision to fire Sami Al-Arian.''
• On Sept. 5, Sarah Foley wrote in the Texas A & M Battalion that South Florida professor deserved termination: Tenured professor fired after connections to terrorist organizations were revealed. Saying that Al-Arian ``holds too much power over the institution,'' she said that the issue was terrorism, not freedom of speech.
• The Sept. 5 Ohio University Post editorialized that *Accusations alone not grounds for loss of job, saying, ``If it is proven that he has a connection to terrorists then he should be fired, but until then they have no right even to think about firing him,'' and later that, ``A person is innocent until proven guilty in the United States.''
• On Sept. 6, American Association of University Professors General Secretary Mary Burgan wrote in the TSL Education Times Higher Education Supplement that *Liberal Minds Not Welcome, claiming that academia has been subjected to some ``conservative'' attacks since Sept. 11.
• The Sept. 8 Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Professor denies terror ties, says freedom at stake: Florida university seeks firing in crucial post-Sept. 11 case. The AJC reported on a lecture Al-Arian gave at the Georgia Institute of Technology campus on Sept. 7, in which he said that ``patriotism is the ability and the right to question a government's efforts and actions in times of crisis; but we confuse zealotry with patriotism; this could not have happened if not for 9/11.''
• On Sept. 11, University of Wisconsin-Madison Badger Herald editor Derek Montgomery wrote in Academic freedom threatened that USC journalism professor Ed Cray said, defending Al-Arian's academic freedom, ``t's what I like to call the Pop-Off factor. P dash OFF, the right to pop off on any subject you wish. I may or may not agree with the man's opinions -- frankly, I don't agree with the man's opinions -- but you don't take away people's livelihoods because you don't agree with their opinions.''
• The Sept. 11 USF Oracle reported that John Esposito, founding director of the Georgetown University Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding cancelled a lecture, blaming Genshaft for ``professor Al-Arian's firing and the clear violation of his academic freedom ... .'' Professor Esposito, leading scholar on Islam, and a former USF Professor of Religious Studies, had been scheduled to speak in October in the University Lecture Series. This story was also reported in the Sept. 14 St. Petersburg Times.
• The Sept. 11-17 Village Voice ran a piece by Alisa Solomon on Things We Lost in the Fire: While the Ruins of the World Trade Center Smoldered, the Bush Administration Launched an Assault on the Constitution, listing the Al-Arian case as an example. And on Sept. 12, Alan Wilson of the Lewiston Morning Tribune (in Idaho) wrote in *Americans struggle to balance security, freedom that there were a number of academic freedom cases going, but that it could have been worse. See the similar story in the Sept. 19 CNSNews: College Professors Adapt To A Post-9/11 World. Both stories take the Al-Arian case as a well-known case.
• On Sept. 12, the Indiana Star reported that Prof defends expression of his beliefs: University is bent on firing Palestinian who once spoke out against Israel, U.S, and quoted USF/UFF Chapter President Roy Weatherford saying, ``Back in the civil rights days, I spoke out in favor of equality and got threats from the Ku Klux Klan. Using the university's reasoning, the appropriate response to that would have been to fire me.''
• The Sept. 14 St. Petersburg Times reports that Genshaft allies cite her religion in Al-Arian case: An Internet petition seeks support for her among Jewish advocacy groups. This story is about the petition circulated by Promoting Responsibility In Middle East Reporting to persuade USF President Genshaft and BOT Chairman Beard to fire Al-Arian. Curiously, the story reports that PRIMER President Norman Gross started his campaign on Genshaft while acting as a representative of the University of Rochester; the story did not report on whether Gross said that he was not speaking for UR. The quote by Roy Weatherford was taken out of context: it referred to the fact that in a court of law, what is or is not a legitimate issue is a legal question.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch ...

The USF Administration responded to UFF's petition to the Public Employees Relations Commission (PERC) (to retain certification after reorganization) on Sept. 13. Like other university administrations, USF's opposed the petition, arguing ``USF moves to dismiss the Petition for lack of ripeness,'' i.e., since the reorganization hadn't taken place yet, it was too soon to bring this case to PERC.
Meanwhile, just in case PERC did not support UFF, UFF was up and running with a campaign (or rather, eleven campaigns, one for each university and New College) to win a third certification election (or rather, eleven certification elections). This involves collecting petitions faculty in the bargaining unit of the university in question, and submitting them to PERC; if at least 30 % of the faculty send in petitions, a certification election is held. (This being Florida, UFF plans to turn in petitions from a lot more than 30 % of the faculty for each university.) The certification election will determine whether or not UFF represents the faculty at USF.

UFF sponsored a fourth Faculty Freedom Forum, on the first major academic freedom crisis in USF's history: USF's encounter with the Florida Legislative Investigations Committee in the early 1960s. The FLIC was launched by Charley Johns to investigate civil rights activism (and, of course, and communism) in the aftermath of a bus boycott in Tallahassee in the mid-1950s. But after pursuing a number of un-Americans, the Johns Committee settled on investigating prurience on campus.
When the Johns Committee finally arrived in Tampa, it intimidated the USF Administration into disciplining three faculty (one not hired (reneging on a contract), one suspended, one censured). For details, see Jim Schnur's Cold warriors in the hot sunshine: USF and the Johns Committee (in .pdf) in the Sunland Tribune.
Sheldon Grebstein was the assistant professor who was censured. He had assigned a critical essay, ``The Know-Nothing Bohemians'' by Norman Podhoretz (a critique and criticism of beatnik authors), in his advanced writing course. The article criticized beatniks who used *&#$ language, referring to the language in the usual way (e.g., *---), but it about that a USF professor was assigning *&#$, and some moralists who might have agreed with the essay (had they bothered to read it) got very huffy. In the face of this huffiness, and with the Hohns Committee breathing down his neck, then USF President John Allen censured Grebstein. Grebstein left USF and went on to become a leading scholar in Twentieth Century American literature and culture, and a leading academic administrator, ultimately becoming President of SUNY-Purchase.
USF was proud to sponsor the talk, on Sept. 19, from 2 pm to 4 pm, in the Grace Allen room of the USF Main Library.

• The Sept. 19 USF Oracle announced the talk: Returning to tell his story: Years ago, a USF professor was ousted for a controversial assignment. Decades later he returns to campus to talk. Said lecture organizer Fraser Ottanelli: Grebstein ``was a talent lost to our community. This was clearly a violation of academic freedom.''
• The Sept. 20 USF Oracle talked about Forty years later: An ousted professor relives his tale; Today USF faces accusations of violating academic freedom, for which it was censured in the ‘60s. Sheldon Grebstein was at the heart of that controversy, quoting Grebstein as saying, ``It’s a strange feeling to wake up every morning and see your name emblazoned on the front of the newspaper.'' And: ``I realize now (Allen and the Board of Control) were under a lot of pressure.'' And: ``The boards tend not to be sympathetic to faculty and academic freedom.'' But the Oracle also quoted USF Spokesman Michael Riech saying, ``Academic freedom is the basic tenet of this university, rather than funding to the university.''
• The Sept. 20 St. Petersburg Times reported that Al-Arian case not first to bedevil a USF chief, and quoted Grebstein saying, ``I couldn't believe it myself; I was incredulous that this piece of writing could have created such a fervor.''
• The Sept. 20 Tampa Tribune reported that *Former USF Professor Touts Freedom: He was attacked as subversive in 1962, and that in the talk, Grebstein advised the audience on ``the importance of getting people elected who comprehend and support higher education. `Find powerful advocates in the state's political structure,' Grebstein told about 125 people. `Inform them of what you're doing. Engage their loyalty and support.'''

• On Sept. 16, Al-Arian's lawyer Robert McKee asked the Hillsborough Circuit Court to dismiss USF's suit against Al-Arian on the grounds that it was precipitate and preemptive: that it should go through the grievance process first.
  • The Sept. 17 St. Petersburg Times reported in Al-Arian to judge: Dismiss USF's suit: The professor argues that the case denies him any say in where and how the dispute is settled that BOT Chairman Richard ``Beard said that school wanted the case to be moved to federal court because the judges are more experienced and conservative and likely to side with the university.''
  • The Sept. 18 USF Oracle reported in Al-Arian: Throw out suit: The controversial professor says the university has stepped on his rights. USF officials say they are following due process that BOT Chairman Richard Beard said, ``We would proceed through the process (that includes arbitration) if the president decides to fire him'' (USF spokesman Michael Riech also said that USF President Genshaft hasn't decided whether to fire Al-Arian yet), and more mysteriously that, ``We cannot make action against him without going through the process the union requires.''
• On Sept. 17, the University of Illinois-Champaign Daily Illini reported that *Free speech threatened by terrorist attacks, study shows, about a study by UI student John Wilson, and featuring three professors, including Al-Arian.
• Meanwhile, there is a conference on Islam in America at UC Berkeley, and Al-Arian is one of the speakers.
  • Several Sept. 18 & 19 AP stories on *Islamic scholars gather at Berkeley and *Islamic Speakers Decry 'Fear' start with a Muslim taxi driver hired to pick up participants but backing out for fear of attracting FBI attention. The stories quoted him saying, ``If it wasn't for 9/11 this would not be an issue. Sept. 11 opened the window for them to attack me.''
• In the Sept. 18-24 Weekly Planet, the Best of the Bay 2002 listed President Genshaft as the ``Best Deer in the Headlights'' and Al-Arian as the ``Best Martyr.''
• A think tank called the Middle East Forum, concerned about bias on campus, created a new website, as reported in the 9/19 Chronicle of Higher Education: **Web Site Lists Professors Accused of Anti-Israel Bias and Asks Students to Report on Them. The website of the reassuringly titled Campus Watch has a whole ``dossier'' on USF.
• It shows how the wind is blowing that the Sept. 20 article in the USF Oracle dominating the front page was Sheldon Grebstein's talk, with off to one side, Report: Al-Najjar in Iran, and below the fold, the report on USF President Genshaft's annual (Fall) Presidential address is entitled Genshaft stays quiet on Al-Arian during address. Incidentally, the gentle webmaster was in the loop scheduling the Grebstein lecture, and the time was set long before the organizers knew about Genshaft's address.
• On Sept. 22, the Tampa Tribune ran a story on how Freedom Frays Link University Leaders, comparing the Al-Arian case to cases in the past of two other Florida state university presidents.
  • Current University of Florida President Charles Young was Chancellor of UCLA in 1969, when the University of California Board of Regents decided to fire Philosophy Professor Angela Davis for being a member of the American Communist Party. Young reportedly appointed a committee to investigate her case, and the committee found no reason to terminate Professor Davis. At that point, Young decided not to terminate, the Board of Regents decided to fire her anyway, the American Association of University Professors censured UCLA while Davis sued and won.
  • Current Florida State University President Sandy d'Alemberte was the FSU president when Psychology Professor Glayde Whitney wrote a forward to a 1999 book by former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke. Despite the outcry, d'Alemberte said he never considered firing Whitney, but made it clear that Whitney did not speak for FSU.
  Young and d'Alemberte say that Genshaft has not asked them for advice in dealing with Al-Arian.
• On Sept. 23, the USF Oracle ran two opinion pieces on the controversy. In the editorial Genshaft avoids Al-Arian again, the Oracle complained that Genshaft is distancing herself from the entire issue, while editor-in-chief Ryan Meehan's column Questioning the present asks, among other things, what if Betty Castor was still president? what if the Board of Regents had not been abolished? what if Al-Arian had not appeared on the O'Reilly Factor? what if Ramadan Shallah had never left USF to lead the Palestinian Islamic Jihad?

Meanwhile, back at the ranch ...

The hearing officer for UFF's petition to the Public Employees Relations Commission (PERC) made his recommendation on Sept. 24. After defending himself against complaints made by the Florida Board of Education, he agreed with the USF Administration that PERC should not rule on a future situation, and recommended that UFF's petition be dismissed.
On Sept. 26, UFF withdrew the petition; USF now faces its third certification election.

• On Sept. 24, the USF Oracle ran the first part of the series, a 3-part feature section on The neverending story?, which had three features on three not necessarily exclusive outcomes:
  • He could be reinstated. USF UFF Chapter President Roy Weatherford noted that there are few technical obstacles, but American Association of University Professors Assistant (AAUP) General Secretary Jordan Kurland said that there might be political obstacles.
  • He could be fired. Not only might this lead to AAUP censure, but Al-Arian might file a grievance against the USF Administration, and the grievance process has been affected by the Florida university system reorganization.
  • It could go to the courts. As a state employment issue, this might be a case for the state court. But the USF Administration brought up the First Amendment in its lawsuit, which may make it a federal case. There was no speculation as to how long the case might spend winding through the courts.
• On Sept. 25, the USF Oracle ran the second part of the series, a report that $54K spent on Al-Arian, so far. But this is only the amount USF has paid in legal fees. We are reminded of USF Spokesman Michael Riech's statement that USF President Genshaft is spending half her time on Al-Arian, and certainly other administrators (including, no doubt, Mr Riech) are spending time on it. (And UFF is spending time and resources on it, too!) Al-Arian estimates that he's spent about $ 20,000, and accused the USF Administration of setting out to bankrupt him.
• On Sept. 26, the USF Oracle ran what appeared to be the third part of the series: A year later and still no answers: Judy Genshaft says sheís lost precious time. Sami Al-Arian says he's never felt better. But has a year really made a difference? Some quotes:
  • USF President Genshaft said: ``It's not just me, though. It's my whole administration... Some days it's all I'm doing.''
  • BOT Chairman Beard said: ``In most places in America, if you're not wanted in your job, you go find another job. ``That's what I'd do.''
  • Professor Al-Arian said: ``All the reactions are extremely favorable ... I think people are generally rooting for me.''
  • USF President Genshaft said: ``With all the time we've spent, it's just lost opportunities that we could have used to advance this university.''

• Mr Rogow started by explaining the Declaratory Judgement Act, with an example. Suppose A is renting space to B, who wants to do something weird to the space. Suppose A threatens B with action (lawsuit, eviction, etc) if B does the wierd thing. The law allows B to preempt (within limits) A by going to court and asking the court if B is within his rights in doing the weird something.
  Rogow said that the USF Administration turned to state court (the Declaratory Judgement Act is a state law) as part of an ``incremental'' approach. Rogow also said that the USF Administration believed that a suit in state court was more appropriate because Al-Arian is regarded as a Florida resident, and thus a Federal Court might regard a suit by a Florida state agency against a Florida resident as a matter for a Florida court. Finally, Rogow said that the original issue was over contractual issues, but that Al-Arian brought up the First Amendment (AHEM: the lawsuit filed by USF itself states that: ``Plaintiff ... requests that the Court enter a declaratory judgement ... [that] the termination process vis a vis Sami Al-Arian does not violate his First Amendment or other constitutional rights ...''). Also Rogow predicted that Al-Arian (or rather, his lawyer) would claim that the lawsuit was precipitate.
• Then there were questions from senators. Here are a selection.
  • Anthropology Professor, and USF/UFF Membership co-Chair Susan Greenbaum asked Rogow to comment on a quote by BOT Chair Richard Beard about moving the case to Federal Court being a trap, and Rogow said that the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University of South Florida, when asked to comment on issues critical to the university, does not speak for USF.
  • Mathematics Professor and USF/UFF webmaster Greg McColm asked about the numerous plaintive references to the American Association of University Professors in the lawsuit, and the apparent appeal for some kind of help with the AAUP, and Rogow said that the AAUP is not a party to the suit, but that its actions underscored the need for USF to demonstrate good faith.
  • Geography Professor Graham Tobin and History Professor Fraser Ottanelli brought up the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), the contract at the center of the dispute between the USF Administration and Al-Arian. The State of Florida insists that the contract runs out in early January, and the question is what happens to the dispute when the contract runs out. First, Rogow said that he had nothing to do with the CBA (and Friedlander supported him, saying that the CBA was a completely different issue, and no one knew what would happen when it ran out), but when pressed, Rogow said that he hadn't even thought of what will happen to the dispute when the contract runs out: ``An interesting question. Does one serve only at the pleasure of the university?'' He did not answer his interesting question.
  • McColm asked if any government (grant-awarding) agencies had pressured USF, and Friedlander said no. (Compare this response to Genshaft's Jan. 9, 2002 statement to the Faculty Senate.)
  • Social Work Professor, and USF Faculty Senate President Greg Paveza asked if filing such a lawsuit was extraordinary, and Rogow said that he had filed such a suit in federal court as part of his defense of 2 Live Crew. Rogow also said that such a lawsuit by USF was the ``conservative'' course to take.
  • Greenbaum returned by asking why the lawsuit was treating this as a First Amendment issue, which protects speech from government, as opposed to an Academic Freedom issue, protecting speech from employers, and whether such a move might undermine academic freedom. Rogow said that academic freedom would not be undermined, and Friedlander said that ``I believe it to be a First Amendment issue,'' and that ``case law says [academic freedom] is a subset/type of First Amendment issue.'' Friedlander also said of being fired, that that was a tenure issue. When Mental Health Professor John Ward asked if there would be tenure if the contract did not exist, Friedlander said yes, and also that academic freedom would exist.
  • Anthropology Professor Elizabeth Bird said of the lawsuit: ``It's clear that this is a delaying tactic.''
  • A senator said that she was picketing against FCAT, and wanted to know if she could be fired. Rogow said that she would not be sanctioned for FCAT protests, and that the issue was Al-Arian's conduct. When McColm returned and asked if there was a specific action of Al-Arian's that justified dismissal, Rogow said ``yes'' but did not elaborate.
  • Ottanelli asked where the money for USF's pursuit of the case was coming from, and it turns out that some comes from the General Counsel's fund, some from `state sources,' and some from ... other sources.

• Weatherford first observed that the contract was designed to go through the grievance process first, because the courts took so long. He also said that the USF Administration cannot evade the grievance process by going to court, for after the courts rule, the process will still be there, waiting.
• Weatherford mentioned the Grebstein lecture, and mentioned that Grebstein was actually falsely accused (of using salacious material). Grebstein's opponents never even bothered to read the material before attacking him. Grebstein also had full First Amendment protection, which did not help that much in that case.

• There had been three routes to start collective bargaining between USF and UFF: USF voluntarily recognizes UFF as the designated bargaining agent, the Public Employee Relations Commission (PERC) designates UFF, or UFF wins a certification election (now in its early stages). PERC had just declined to designate UFF on the grounds that it was too early (the contract has not run out yet); it is not clear what PERC might do later. Weatherford called for the USF Administration to voluntarily recognize UFF.