It appears University of Illinois Chancellor Wise will be steadfast in rescinding job offer [in fact firing Steven Salaita one minute past 12 o’clock]. Academic Freedom would require her to follow through on the appointment of a new professor, however criticism has dropped a time-bomb at the Champaign-Urbana campus. Once the appointment of Steven Salaita got national attention through his personal tweets about Israel and the Gaza War, pro-Israel advocates and a reaction from faculty and donors. The university is located in Caterpillar‘s backyard of course …
Steven Salaita @stevesalaita
Rednecks need a new slogan. Instead
of “kick their ass and take their gas,”
how about “#Gaza is a disaster, but
Netanyahu is my master”?
Professor Reportedly Loses Position over Anti-Israel Tweets
By Evan McMurry | Mediaite | August 6th, 2014 at 7:43 am |Professor Steven Salaita, who recently resigned from Virginia Tech to accept a position at University of Illinois Champagne-Urbana’s American Indian studies program, lost the new job at the last minute, according to what some sources say was backlash to his anti-Israel tweets.
“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,” Inside Higher Ed reported. “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.”
Until about two weeks ago the university had defended Salaita’s ability to tweet what he wanted. “Faculty have a wide range of scholarly and political views, and we recognize the freedom-of-speech rights of all of our employees,” a university spokesperson said. But a fellow Fighting Illini prof indicated that Salatia’s tweets had crossed the line from a question of speech into one of civility, an acceptable metric by which to judge a new hire.
UoIC apparently revokes job offer to controversial scholar
By Scott Jaschik | Inside Higher Ed | August 6, 2014 |In an interview, Warrior declined to discuss his feelings about the university’s decision to block the job offer. But he was willing to discuss why he wanted Salaita as a colleague. “Steven is an innovative scholar who works from a rigorous training in Native American studies in doing a broad range of critical work, including what we were most interested in for this search, his work in comparative American Indian-Palestinian-Arab American studies.” Warrior said Salaita had been a scholarly leader in such comparative work, starting with his book The Holy Land in Transit: Colonialism and the Quest for Canaan: Middle East Studies Beyond Dominant Paradigms (Syracuse University Press).
« click for info Virginia Tech criticism
Professor Steven Salaita in move from Virginia Tech (Photo: The News Gazette)In recent weeks, bloggers [Daily Caller] 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.”
No, thanks: Stop saying “support the troops” (Salon) By Steven Salaita on August 25, 2013
Even fall of snow and a cold spell get the Ilinii all upset over their Chancellor …
Chancellor Wise faced racist, sexist tweets after keeping classes open during a cold snap
By Scott Jaschik | Inside Higher Ed | January 28, 2014 |Phyllis M. Wise, the chancellor, opted to keep classes as scheduled Monday, despite extremely cold weather. That some students would take to Twitter to gripe is not shocking. But a flurry of comments focused either on Wise’s status as a woman, as an Asian-American, or both. The hashtag of choice: #fuckphyllis.
Among the tweets (skipping the most offensive) using the hashtag: “In room with Phyllis Wise, Adolf Hitler and a gun with one bullet. Who do I shoot.” Many tweets played off Wise’s race. “Communist China no stop by cold,” for example.
Or “Asians and women aren’t responsible for their actions,” or “Phyllis Wise is the Kim Jong Un of chancellors.” Many others referenced the female anatomy, or used additional hashtags, such as a vulgar four-letter word for a part of a woman’s anatomy. At least two Twitter accounts pretending to be Wise’s were created and proceeded to mock her, although they were promptly removed by Twitter.
