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Ousted Prof Steven Salaita Lashes Out at U. of Illinois For His Ouster

In a packed Northwestern University lecture hall, embattled professor Steven Salaita recently ripped University of Illinois administrators saying “Anyone who tuned in could see how the corporatization of academe functions in real time.”

As has been reported here at The College Fix, Salaita had been offered a position at the U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, but it was rescinded after the revelation that the prof had made numerous — and venomous — anti-Israel and anti-Jewish tweets.

The Chicago Tribune reports:

Salaita, a Palestinian-American who studies colonialism and the Middle East, on Monday criticized U. of I. board members, who he said “have zero qualifications to evaluate my teaching or scholarship,” and universities more broadly for everything from “siding with Israel” to high administrative salaries and the reliance on part-time adjunct faculty. He said he is not anti-Semitic, as some have said, but that he “opposes the policies of the state of Israel.”

Salaita has described his tweets as “passionate and unfiltered,” and many of the ones preceding his job revocation focused on the number of children killed in the conflict this summer.

Salaita’s attorney Anand Swaminathan indicated he’s readying a lawsuit against U.I. for “violating Salaita’s constitutional rights to free speech and due process as well as breach of contract.”

In an unusual alliance, Students for Justice in Palestine and the Gay Liberation Network have been collecting funds for Salaita in order to offer him an honorarium.

Read more here.

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About the Author
Associate Editor
Dave has been writing about education, politics, and entertainment for over 20 years, including a stint at the popular media bias site Newsbusters. He is a retired educator with over 25 years of service and is a member of the National Association of Scholars. Dave holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Delaware.