Steven Salaita to File Lawsuit Against University of Illinois

Freedom of Speech only goes so far in an academic setting for one potential University of Illinois professor. Steven Salaita was scheduled to start teaching at the university in August. After a closer look at the professor’s Twitter account, his job offer was pulled.

Salaita had written continuous posts on his Twitter account about Israeli military action in Gaza which contained disrespectful words. The basic significance of these posts contained anti-Semitic messages and hateful language toward Israelis.

The University of Illinois boards of trustees came to a conclusion this past Friday. The trustees have voted to revoke professor Salaita’s job offer because of the hate speech. Salaita resigned from Virginia Tech University after accepting the offer from U of I to teach Native American Studies in October.

However, this past July, Chancellor Phyllis Wise at U of I was concerned about allowing him on the department after seeing the Twitter posts about the Israeli people. “If you’re defending #Israel right now, you’re an awful human being,” read one Tweet from Salaita in early July. This is one of the abundance of Tweets that Salaita had posted.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, professors who spoke in favor of hiring Salaita said that the vote to revoke his position would cause disruption in the university’s character. Some say that this decision withdraws the right of free speech and gives an appearance to the public as if the university is anti-intellectual liberty and a lack of respect for faculty values. Salaita’s attorney says they plan to file a lawsuit.

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