Professor Speaks After Losing Position Over Gaza Tweets

**MEDIA ADVISORY**

		Press Conference:

		Professor Salaita to Speak for First Time About Losing Tenured Position Over Gaza Tweets

Urbana-Champaign, IL – Professor Steven Salaita, faculty and students of the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (UIUC), and legal experts will hold a press conference at 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, September 9 at the University YMCA (located at Wright & Chalmers). Salaita had accepted a tenured position in the American Indian Studies program at UIUC, but the university’s Chancellor terminated his appointment in early August over tweets regarding Israel's latest attacks in Gaza. Salaita and other speakers will discuss his termination in the larger context of organized attacks on free speech on campuses and concerns about academic freedom and the First Amendment raised by the incident.

	Who:
	- Professor Steven Salaita
	- Professor Robert Warrior, director of American Indian Studies at UIUC
	- Maria LaHood, senior attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights
	- Michael Rothberg, head of the English Department at UIUC, on behalf of the Modern Language Association (MLA)
	- Eman Ghanayem and Rico Kleinstein, students at UIUC

	When:
	Tuesday, September 9, 2014, 12:30 p.m. CDT
	Professor Salaita to Speak for First Time About Losing Tenured Position Over Gaza Tweets

	Where:
	University YMCA, 1001 S Wright St., Urbana, IL 61820

Many groups have come out strongly against the university’s actions, including the Modern Language Association, the American Association of University Professors, and the American Studies Association. Several departments at UIUC have cast votes of no confidence in the Chancellor, and many are boycotting the university – several scholars have already cancelled lectures at UIUC, and a national conference to be hosted there was cancelled.  The press conference will be held following a student walkout.

This is the first time Prof. Salaita will be speaking about the situation in public. He is represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights (http://ccrjustice.org/) and Anand Swaminathan of Loevy & Loevy (http://www.loevy.com/) in Chicago.

For those unable to attend the press conference in person, a copy of Prof. Salaita’s comments will be sent around afterwards and the speakers will be available for interview by phone beginning at 2 p.m. CDT.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Via: Center for Constitutional Rights | http://ccrjustice.org | @theCCR

**  Synopsis  **

CCR, along with the Chicago civil rights law firm of Loevy & Loevy, is representing Professor Steven Salaita, whose appointment to a tenured faculty position at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign – for which he had resigned from another tenured teaching position and was preparing to move – was terminated following his public tweets criticizing the Israeli government's recent actions in Gaza.  Salaita's termination, which functions as a penalty for his speech on an issue of public concern, constitutes “viewpoint discrimination,” a violation of the First Amendment, and also threatens academic freedom by punishing a faculty member for speaking as a citizen on a critical issue.

**  Status  **

For information about a press conference with Professor Salaita on September 9, 2014, please see the media advisory:
http://www.ccrjustice.org/files/Advisory%20-%20Salaita%20press%20conference%209-9-14%20FINAL.pdf

Prior to representing Professor Salaita, CCR sent a letter to University of Illinois Chancellor Phyllis M. Wise regarding her decision to terminate his appointment at the University based on the content of his constitutionally-protected speech critical of the Israeli government’s military and political actions in Gaza:
https://www.ccrjustice.org/files/CCR%20Letter%20to%20University%20of%20Illinois%20re%20Prof%20%20Salaita%2008%2007%2014.pdf

The University's betrayal of academic freedom has been widely condemned.

**  Description  **

Professor Steven Salaita was a tenured English professor at Virginia Tech University, whose scholarship focused on colonialism, militarism and occupation and who had written well-regarded books studying Arab-American literature and criticizing Zionism.  It was on the basis of his excellent scholarly record that the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences offered Professor Salaita a tenured position in the University’s American Indian Studies department.  Based on the contract he had with the University of Illinois, Professor Salaita resigned his tenured position at Virginia Tech University and had prepared to move his family to Illinois.  Yet, one week before school was to start, Professor Salaita received a terse letter from University Chancellor Phyllis M. Wise, summarily informing him that his appointment was terminated.  It offered no reasons why.

It is clear, however, that Professor Salaita’s termination was a result of a number of posts on social media highly critical of Israeli government atrocities in Gaza in recent weeks.  The University received strong pressure from outside groups who, consistent with a broader strategy to silence Palestinian human rights activists, labeled Professor Salaita anti-semitic.  CCR has seen similar attempts to silence Palestinian activists on campuses all across the country.  Seven years of absolutely stellar teaching and scholarly evaluations for Professor Salaita totally belie claims that he would ever be “uncivil” to students in the classroom, as Chancellor Wise has since intimated.

The University’s action to repress or penalize Professor Salaita’s speech on a matter of public concern such as Israel/Palestine because of disagreement with its message is impermissible “viewpoint discrimination,” a serious First Amendment violation.  It is also no defense for the University to claim that his speech was offensive or aggressive, as the First Amendment also clearly protects the tone and manner of speech others find objectionable.  As CCR explained in our letter to Chancellor Wise, beyond the First Amendment violation committed in this instance, the University has “betrayed elementary principles of academic freedom which naturally extend protections to faculty members’ ability to ‘speak or write as citizens,’ and which must be free from ‘institutional censorship or discipline.’”

The University’s betrayal of academic freedom has been met with harsh criticisms, from academic boycotts of the University, withering editorial commentary, to a petition garnering over 16,000 signatures.  A small sampling of statements in support of Professor Salaita and critical of the University of Illinois are below.

**  Timeline  **

August 1, 2014 - The Vice President and Chancellor of the University of Illinois informed Professor Salaita that they would not recommend further action by the Board of Trustees regarding his appointment to a tenured position.

August 7, 2014 - CCR sent a letter to University of Illinois Chancellor Phyllis M. Wise regarding her decision to terminate the appointment of Professor Steven Salaita at the University based on the content of his constitutionally-protected speech critical of the Israeli government’s military and political actions in Gaza.
https://www.ccrjustice.org/files/CCR%20Letter%20to%20University%20of%20Illinois%20re%20Prof%20%20Salaita%2008%2007%2014.pdf

August 22, 2014 - Chancellor Wise released a statement regarding her decision.
http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2014-08-22/updated-wise-explains-salaita-decision-gets-support-trustees.html


                                                           ******