{"id":286,"date":"2014-09-10T08:48:00","date_gmt":"2014-09-10T14:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/09\/have-you-been-following-the-steven-salaita-story.html"},"modified":"2015-03-01T22:19:39","modified_gmt":"2015-03-02T04:19:39","slug":"have-you-been-following-the-steven-salaita-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/09\/have-you-been-following-the-steven-salaita-story.html","title":{"rendered":"Have you been following the Steven Salaita story?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
The short version of this story is that a professor who was slated to begin work at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign had his job offer rescinded because of incendiary statements on Twitter about Israel, and is now, per this morning\u2019s paper<\/a>, threatening a lawsuit if he\u2019s not reinstated.<\/div>\n

(Sample tweets: \u00a0\u201cIf (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu appeared on TV with a necklace made from the teeth of Palestinian children, would anybody be surprised?\u201d and \u201cYou may be too refined to say it, but I\u2019m not: I wish all the (expletive) West Bank settlers would go missing.\u201d)<\/p>\n

Now, this has been commented on previously by multiple bloggers\/conservative websites, and you\u2019ll have to excuse the fact that, in my quick-blog before starting work, I\u2019m not digging out their prior observations. \u00a0But:<\/p>\n

To begin with, I\u2019m not sure why the university hired an individual \u201cwhose academic interests include colonialism and the Middle East\u201d to teach as a tenured professor in the American Indian studies program. \u00a0Are they hard up for professors in that specialty? <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s his bio<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Steven Salaita is an associate professor of English at Virginia Tech.<\/p>\n

He is the author of six books and writes frequently about Arab Americans, Palestine, Indigenous Peoples, and decolonization. His current book project is entitled Images of Arabs and Muslims in the Age of Obama.\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Steven grew up in Bluefield, Virginia, to a mother from Nicaragua (by way of Palestine) and a father from Madaba, Jordan. He now lives in Blacksburg, Virginia, with his wife, bichon frise, and orange tabby.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What any of this has to do with teaching American Indian studies is beyond me. \u00a0His bibiliography, from that same site, includes a book titled \u201cIsrael\u2019s Dead Soul.\u201d <\/p>\n

Frankly, it speaks very poorly of the American Indian studies department and the university as a whole that someone without any specialty in the field was hired. \u00a0Was he a \u201cdiversity hire\u201d because his mother counted as \u201cHispanic\u201d? <\/p>\n

In any event, the university did hire him, and it is true that he is now in a difficult situation: \u00a0\u201d\u00a0He and his wife, Diana, resigned from their jobs at Virginia Tech University, where he was an English professor and she was an assistant director of the language and culture institute. They sold their home and now have \u201cno income, no health insurance\u201d and no preschool for their son. His family is living with his parents in the Washington, D.C., area, he later said.\u201d<\/p>\n

But does the notion of \u201cacademic freedom\u201d mean that he has grounds for a lawsuit? \u00a0 This principle is just that, a principle, not a contractual agreement, except as it concerns tenured professors. \u00a0Does Salaita have an enforceable employment agreement? \u00a0Presumably not, as this would be front-and-center of any discussions. \u00a0So he\u2019s in the same position as many others who learn that job offers are rescinded, or that they\u2019re fired for reasons that appear to be \u201cunfair.\u201d \u00a0After all, is it any more \u201cunfair\u201d for Salaita to have had his job offer rescinded than for\u00a0Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich to have been fired? <\/p>\n

For that matter, let\u2019s think about this: \u00a0in any other line of work, would a public figure (and Salaita counts; I mean merely to distinguish this from someone who\u2019s \u201cinvisible\u201d in their day-to-day work) be able to tweet such things and be able to get away with claiming, \u201cthat\u2019s on my own time, and has nothing to do with my work\u201d? \u00a0 Or, on the other hand, is it because this is about Israel, that these tweets are considered \u201cnot really so bad\u201d anyway, compared to saying the equivalent about an American minority group?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The short version of this story is that a professor who was slated to begin work at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign had his job offer rescinded because of incendiary statements on Twitter about Israel, and is now, per this morning\u2019s paper, threatening a lawsuit if he\u2019s not reinstated. (Sample tweets: \u00a0\u201cIf (Israeli Prime […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[213],"class_list":["post-286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-university-of-illinois"],"yoast_head":"\nHave you been following the Steven Salaita story?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The short version of this story is that a professor who was slated to begin work at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign had his job offer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/09\/have-you-been-following-the-steven-salaita-story.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Have you been following the Steven Salaita story?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The short version of this story is that a professor who was slated to begin work at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign had his job offer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/09\/have-you-been-following-the-steven-salaita-story.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-09-10T14:48:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-03-02T04:19:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/09\/have-you-been-following-the-steven-salaita-story.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/09\/have-you-been-following-the-steven-salaita-story.html\",\"name\":\"Have you been following the Steven Salaita story?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-09-10T14:48:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-03-02T04:19:39+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\"},\"description\":\"The short version of this story is that a professor who was slated to begin work at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign had his job offer\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/09\/have-you-been-following-the-steven-salaita-story.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/09\/have-you-been-following-the-steven-salaita-story.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/09\/have-you-been-following-the-steven-salaita-story.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Have you been following the Steven Salaita story?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jane the Actuary\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/author\/actuaryjane\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Have you been following the Steven Salaita story?","description":"The short version of this story is that a professor who was slated to begin work at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign had his job offer","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/09\/have-you-been-following-the-steven-salaita-story.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Have you been following the Steven Salaita story?","og_description":"The short version of this story is that a professor who was slated to begin work at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign had his job offer","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/09\/have-you-been-following-the-steven-salaita-story.html","og_site_name":"Jane the Actuary","article_published_time":"2014-09-10T14:48:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-03-02T04:19:39+00:00","author":"Jane the Actuary","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jane the Actuary","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/09\/have-you-been-following-the-steven-salaita-story.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/09\/have-you-been-following-the-steven-salaita-story.html","name":"Have you been following the Steven Salaita story?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-09-10T14:48:00+00:00","dateModified":"2015-03-02T04:19:39+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a"},"description":"The short version of this story is that a professor who was slated to begin work at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign had his job offer","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/09\/have-you-been-following-the-steven-salaita-story.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/09\/have-you-been-following-the-steven-salaita-story.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/09\/have-you-been-following-the-steven-salaita-story.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Have you been following the Steven Salaita story?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/","name":"Jane the Actuary","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a","name":"Jane the Actuary","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jane the Actuary"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/author\/actuaryjane"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2209"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}