Giving in to Terrorists 

By Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad, Ph.D.
Minaret of Freedom Institute

16/1/02

In December of 2001, Judy Genshaft, President of the University of South Florida, and the Board of Trustees of the University of South Florida (USF) elected to break the tenure of Professor Sami Al-Arian and dismiss him without due process or a reasonable cause. Prof. Al-Arian has been a long-time spokesman for the Palestinian cause from an Islamic perspective. This efficacy provoked the usual suspects to throw around accusations that he was linked to terrorism based on the pretext that a former associate of his subsequently became the leader of Islamic Jihad in Palestine.

This blatant attempt at guilt by association failed in the legal system. Prof. Al-Arian has never been indicted or convicted for any links to violence or terrorism. It appears rather, that the USF Board of Trustees has itself knuckled under to terrorism, allowing the threats of violence and other attempts at intimidation by those who oppose Prof. Al-Arian’s political views to pressure USF into an unjust and unjustifiable act. In September, 2001, Prof Al-Arian accepted an invitation to appear on the Fox network’s O’Reilly Factor expecting to be interviewed about the Muslim community’s reaction to recent events. Instead, he was surprised by the dredging up of long-refuted accusations against him. Redneck viewers of the program took the bait and launched death threats against Prof. Al-Arian that threw the university into turmoil. Other more genteel bigots merely threatened the university’s financial support. President Genshaft decided that the best way to deal with the crisis was to fire the victim.

USF gives no credence to the accusations of terrorist links. A university investigation of the charges in the mid-1990’s cleared Prof. Al-Arian and the organizations with which he was affiliated. The fig leaf to cover this dismissal was to the effect that Prof. Al-Arian failed to proffer a disclaimer that his political views are not those of the University of South Florida is most disturbing to those of us in the academic community. I am an adjunct professor at the University of Maryland and at Johns Hopkins University, yet everyone who reads my Islamonline columns knows that I do not here speak for either of those institutions. Nonetheless, I’ll be quite surprised if you can find many professors at either institution who would disagree with what I say in the rest of this paragraph: It is a given that when a University professor speaks on a television program or even a newspaper article, that he is not representing the official views of the university. This is what academic freedom is all about. If a tenured faculty member is not free to hold and profess political views without risking his job, how can any of us feel safe?

The significance of this concern is underscored by the fact that USF’s faculty senate refused to support the Trustees’ move and the faculty union has voted to throw its full support behind him. Dr. Roy Weatherford, president of the USF chapter of the United Faculty of Florida called the argument that Prof. Al-Arian’s dismissal was due to security considerations “phony,” and added that "faculty members will not sell their principle for an endowment" (Tampa Bay Coalition for Peace and Justice 2002). 

Writing as someone who desires to promote the concept of liberty in the Muslim world and among Muslims everywhere and also to promote the liberty of Muslims, I must say that the abridgement of Prof. Al-Arian’s freedom of speech is not simply a setback for Muslims in America, but a setback for efforts to promote freedom in the Muslim world as well. If an American university like USF doesn’t practice academic freedom, why should governments in the Muslim world take seriously the criticisms that they also fail to observe due process and free speech?

Other excuses offered by the trustees for the firing are no more credible. The idea that Prof. Al-Arian is being dismissed for returning to campus after he was put on paid leave is outrageous, for he was only asked to stay off campus after his visit to the campus. He had no reason to believe, until that point, that his paid leave was conditional on staying off campus. The idea that given the death threats he cannot fulfill his duties as a teacher is also unacceptable as an excuse for dismissal for USF provides for many methods by which he could perform his duties without physically being on campus.
 
The reason for the intense pressure on the University of South Florida to fire Prof. Al-Arian is obvious. He has been an effective spokesman for the Palestinian cause. Since the accusations trumped up against him were investigated and found to be groundless, the Zionists have resorted to rabble-rousing to silence him. If the University of South Florida’s capitulation to the terrorists is allowed to stand, we can expect other such attacks on others in the academic community until no one is safe who does not toe the Likud line. While there are appeals channels open to Prof. Al-Arian and he is pursuing the option of binding arbitration, it would be better for all concerned if President Genshaft would rectify the error herself, in order to remove the suggestion that even a minority of administrators in the academic world find freedom of speech and thought an acceptable sacrifice to stave off intimidation by zealots and fanatics. Now is the time for academic institutions to show the same courage they did during the McCarthyism of the 1950’s during the Communist witch-hunts. I invite all readers of this column to help her to understand this by writing polite heartfelt expressions of your own views to: President Judy Genshaft, 
University of South Florida, Office of the Board of Trustees Operations, 4202 E. Fowler Avenue, ADM 214, Tampa, FL 33620.

References

Tampa Bay Coalition for Peace and Justice 2002, “Dr. Al-Arian Receives Wide Support from National Groups,” (1/14).