University of Illinois professor loses his job after anti-Israel tweets

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has retracted a job offer to an outspoken critic of the conflict in Gaza, according to a letter released Wednesday and signed by the university’s chancellor.

Steven Salaita, a former Virginia Tech professor, had been offered a tenured appointment as an associate professor in the American Indian Studies department with a salary of $85,000, pending approval from the board of trustees. Such approval is essentially guaranteed, and his start date was set for Aug. 16, the Chicago Tribune reported.

But according to Inside Higher Ed, “sources familiar with the university’s decision say that concern grew over the tone of his comments on Twitter about Israel’s policies in Gaza.” As the blog pointed out, criticism of Israel is not unusual in academia. Nor is it that rare at the University of Illinois, where varying viewpoints of the Israel-Palestine divide have played out in the pages of the campus newspaper, the Daily Illini.

In an Aug. 1 letter obtained by the Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette, Chancellor Phyllis M. Wise and Christophe Pierre, the vice president for academic affairs, wrote Salaita, “Your appointment will not be recommended for submission to the Board of Trustees in September, and we believe that an affirmative Board vote approving your appointment is unlikely.”

More Here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/08/14/univer...

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Permalink Reply by Less Prone on August 16, 2014 at 11:29am

That is discrimination and antihumanism.

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Permalink Reply by DTOM on August 18, 2014 at 10:41am

Good, maybe it will force the creation of a new form of higher learning, where both students AND teachers can explore issues in a true free and openminded manner, without being subject to review, conformity, deformation, fines and arrest by a controlling authority with it's own agenda who seek to control how we think.

People will only wake up, when the controllers overtly exercise their agenda.

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Permalink Reply by Christopher Victor Pringle on August 19, 2014 at 3:30pm

read and sign this - plse distribute it to every Prof - you know - Peace - Lokis Aug 19 14

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1_oGbCNTx7lcvYzQP_kDEZbfclDdu5-GU_H...

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Permalink Reply by Sweettina2 on August 21, 2014 at 11:58am

Higher learning these days equals going with the propaganda flow. I hope many more have the guts to do it and get fired, maybe we'll see the tide turn. Thanks Tara, sharing.