Palestinian prof: Pending dismissal result of post-Sept. 11 mania
By The Associated Press
08.03.02
TAMPA, Fla. — A University of South Florida professor who could be fired for alleged terrorist ties said this week that he and other Muslims are victims of post-Sept. 11 mania.
The university "buckled under the pressure because of the 9-11 hysteria," Sami Al-Arian told the Suncoast Tiger Bay Club at the St. Petersburg Yacht Club on Aug. 2. "If I were any other nationality or any other color, believe me, that would not have even been a consideration."
Al-Arian, a tenured computer science professor, has been on paid leave since Sept. 27.
USF's board of trustees voted 12-1 in December to recommend firing Al-Arian after his appearance on the Fox News show "The O'Reilly Factor" caused an uproar over inflammatory anti-Israeli statements he made years earlier and his suspected links to terrorists.
Al-Arian, a Palestinian who moved to the United States in 1975, has never been charged with a crime and denies any links to terrorists.
USF President Judy Genshaft, citing safety for both the professor and the school, has said she agrees with the board's recommendation. Her final decision is due before fall semester classes begin Aug. 26.
"My record in the classroom is very, very clear," Al-Arian said to a packed room at the Yacht Club. "I don't think any student has ever complained about my teaching. I have never brought my politics to the classroom or to my colleagues or to USF."
Al-Arian criticized news media reports that he says have been inaccurate and have fueled the controversy.
"Being in the United States, living in the Unites States as an adult, I've grown accustomed to the traditions and values of this country," he said. "You are not guilty because other people say you are guilty."
Years ago, Al-Arian founded the World and Islam Studies Enterprises, a now-defunct Islamic think tank at USF that was raided by the FBI in 1995. Ramadan Adbulah Shallah, a former WISE head, left the group in 1995 and later resurfaced as head of the terrorist organization, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
"WISE never took the cause of the Islamic Jihad," Al-Arian said. "It's regrettable that someone from WISE took over Jihad. We regret that. We could not have foreseen that."
Academic groups, including the American Association of University Professors, have urged Genshaft to reconsider her decision, citing academic freedom of professors and threatening censure if she fires Al-Arian.
But USF spokesman Michael Reich said academic freedom was not the issue.
"Academic freedom protects his right to teach computer science engineering as he deems appropriate," Reich said. "This is not about academic freedom, this is about his activities outside the classroom that has created a disruption on campus."
At the Aug. 2 event, Al-Arian fielded questions from audience members, many of whom were critical of tapes that show Al-Arian at conferences in the late 1980s and early 1990s saying "Death to Israel."
Al-Arian said that he never advocated violence against others.
"'Death to Israel' meant death to apartheid, death to oppression," he said.
When asked whether he thought suicide bombing of Israeli citizens was justified he said "the murder of civilians is absolutely, morally and religiously wrong. There is no justification for that."
However, he said he was not a pacifist.
"I'm against violence against noncombatants," Al-Arian said. "I am for resisting occupation by whatever means, but only against military targets."
Al-Arian has been successful in raising issues about the use of secret evidence, which has been the subject of congressional hearings and was mentioned during a 2000 presidential debate.
Al-Arian's brother-in-law, Mazen Al-Najjar, spent more than 3 ½ years in jail on secret evidence linking him to terrorists, only to be released in December 2000. He was arrested again to be deported, though no country has agreed to take him and he remains in jail.