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U. of Illinois revokes job offer to scholar over Gaza
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/08/06/u-illinois-apparently-revokes-job-offer-controversial-scholarMany faculty job offers (which are well-vetted by college officials before they go out) contain language stating that the offer is pending approval by the institution's board of trustees. It's just a formality, since many college bylaws require such approval.
Not so with a job offer made to Steven G. Salaita, who was to have joined the American Indian studies program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign this month. The appointment was made public, and Salaita resigned from his position as associate professor of English at Virginia Tech. But he was recently informed by Chancellor Phyllis Wise that the appointment would not go to the university's board, and that he did not have a job to come to in Illinois, according to two sources with knowledge of the situation....
The 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. While many academics at Illinois and elsewhere are deeply critical of Israel, Salaita's tweets have struck some as crossing a line into uncivil behavior....
In recent weeks, bloggers and others have started to draw attention to Salaita's comments on Twitter. But as recently as July 22 (before the job offer was revoked), a university spokeswoman defended Salaita's comments on Twitter and elsewhere. A spokeswoman told The News-Gazette for an article about Salaita that "faculty have a wide range of scholarly and political views, and we recognize the freedom-of-speech rights of all of our employees."
Not so with a job offer made to Steven G. Salaita, who was to have joined the American Indian studies program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign this month. The appointment was made public, and Salaita resigned from his position as associate professor of English at Virginia Tech. But he was recently informed by Chancellor Phyllis Wise that the appointment would not go to the university's board, and that he did not have a job to come to in Illinois, according to two sources with knowledge of the situation....
The 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. While many academics at Illinois and elsewhere are deeply critical of Israel, Salaita's tweets have struck some as crossing a line into uncivil behavior....
In recent weeks, bloggers and others have started to draw attention to Salaita's comments on Twitter. But as recently as July 22 (before the job offer was revoked), a university spokeswoman defended Salaita's comments on Twitter and elsewhere. A spokeswoman told The News-Gazette for an article about Salaita that "faculty have a wide range of scholarly and political views, and we recognize the freedom-of-speech rights of all of our employees."
Boy, is he screwn. I'll bet he doesn't have a job to go back to in Virginia, either.
