Steven Salaita

See also: UIUC § Steven Salaita controversy

Dr Steven Salaita (born in 1975) is an American expert on comparative literature and post-colonialism. He became embroiled in a controversy regarding freedom of speech for faculty at American universities when his offer of employment was withdrawn from UIUC by Chancellor Dr. Phyllis Wise, a move some regard as an infringement on Salaita's freedom of speech. He had published tweets critical of Israel's treatment of Gaza. As a result of his outspoken critique of the university's handling of his situation, Haaretz notes that Salaita has established "celebrity status on the lecture circuit."

Early life and education

Salaida was born in Bluefield, West Virginia according to his report, his father was as a Jordanian Christian and by his mother a Palestinian who was raised in Nicaragua. Salaita received his B.A. from Radford University in 1997 and his M.A. from Radford in 1999. He completed his Ph.D. at the University of Oklahoma.

Career

Following completion of his Ph.D. Salaita began a career in academia. He was an assistant professor of English at University of Wisconsin in Whitewater, where he taught Aermican and ethnic American literature until 2006. He was then hired as associate professor of English at Virginia Tech, and received tenure three years later. In addition to teaching English courses, Salaita wrote about themes of immigration, indigenous peoples, dislocation, race, ethnicity and multi-culturalism.

Sinan Antoon criticized Salaita's first book, The Holy Land in Transit: Colonialism and the Quest for Canaan, for analyzing Palestinian literature only in English translation and without referencing any Arabic sources. His 2006 "Anti-Arab Racism in the USA: Where it Comes From and What it Means for Politics" website and won the Myers Outstanding Book Award for the Study of Human Rights.

Academic freedom controversy

In 2013, The University of Illinois offered a professorial position to Salaita, but withdrew the offer in 2014, apparently after reviewing tweets of his the university viewed as controversial. On October 3, 2013, Salaita was offered a position originally scheduled to begin in January 2014 at the rank of Associate Professor with indefinite tenure as part of the American Indian Studies Program. Salaita accepted, but with a projected start date of August 16, 2014. However, on August 1, 2014, Christophe Pierre, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Phyllis M. Wise, Chancellor, wrote to Salaita saying that his offer was contingent upon approval by the Board of Trustees, and that they had chosen not to present his potential appointment to the Board. His offer was therefore withdrawn. Salaita declared this was an infringement on his academic freedom and insisted the university reinstate its offer rather than search for a financial settlement. On September 10 the trustees defeated a proposal to reconsider the offer of employment. An outcry ensued, both at the university itself and in other academic institutions. Five departments voted "no confidence" in Chancellor Wise, several academic organizations condemned the university's actions, and some scholars have cancelled lectures scheduled at the university. On its web-site the American Indians program shared its statement of no-confidence "“With this vote of no confidence, the faculty of UIUC’s American Indian studies program also joins the thousands of scholars and organizations in the United States and across the world in seeing the chancellor’s action as a violation of academic freedom and freedom of speech."

The New York Times claimed that the withdrawal of Salaita's employment offer came as a result of accusations of anti-Semitism made by pro-Israel faculty, students and donors who objected to Salaita's twitters regarding Israel's military actions in Gaza. Josh Cooper, a student who gathered a petition protesting Salaita's appointment, had previously been an intern with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which describes itself as "America's Pro-Israel Lobby". Salaita rejected the accusations of anti-Semitism in an interview with The Jewish Daily Forward, saying he is "deeply opposed to all forms of bigotry and racism including anti-Semitism.” He countered that the situation is part of a campaign by "wealthy and well organized groups to attack pro-Palestinian students and faculty." Many college campuses share his concern that there is a suppression of academic freedom regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a topic of extensive discussion.

After the controversy became public, fresh reviews of his work were published. Diana Muir Appelbaum, an author and historian who has written about Israel, critiqued one of Salaita's books, The Holy Land in Transit, after siding with the university in the controversy for considering Salaita's anti-Israel tweets in their consideration of his hiring. Salaita's work was also subjected to criticism Tablet, a Jewish on-line publication, by Liel Leibovitz, a Jewish-American writer who was born in Israel, served in the IDF and has written on Jewish topics. Leibovitz attacked the book as "“Devoid of any real understanding, context, or nuance, stupidly dogmatic, and frequently given to hyperbolic fits of hatred, it should not qualify as scholarship.”Leibovitz wrote his scathing review of Salaita's work only after he had published an article attacking Salaita's tweets and views on Israel and declaring that it was "a good thing" Salaita's offer from the university was revoked.

In the meantime, Salaita has received significant media attention and has been on a lecture tour regarding academic freedom at such universities as Northwestern University, Princeton University, Columbia University and the University of Chicago. In November 2014, he filed a lawsuit against the university, insisting it make public the meeting minutes and email correspondence of university staff who were involved in withdrawing his employment offer.Salaita has received support for his cause from the Modern Language Association, the American Association of University Professors and the Middle East Studies Association, while others have attacked his lack of "civility" in his tweets or renewed accusations of anti-Semitism. Cary Nelson, the former President of the AAUP from 2006-2012 lamented that it has become difficult to find an academic arena "grounded in an empathy for both Palestinians and Israelis."

Books

• Modern Arab American Fiction: A Reader’s Guide(2011)
• The Holy Land in Transit: Colonialism and the Quest for Canaan (2006)
• Israel’s Dead Soul (2011)
• Anti-Arab Racism in the USA: Where it Comes From and What it Means for Politics (2006) (Winner of 2007 Myers Outstanding Book Award for the Study of Human Rights.