DETROIT -- A pro-Israel group says the son of a prominent Palestinian intellectual should not be considered for a law professor post at Wayne State University, and local leaders of Palestinian and Arab descent say the effort is part of an attempt to marginalize their community in Metro Detroit.
Wadie Said, the son of Edward Said, an internationally recognized scholar and an outspoken Palestinian activist until his death in 2003, is a candidate for one of several jobs on the law school faculty, according to officials at Wayne State. Said is a lawyer and professor in California.
Stand With Us, a group of Jewish activists that seeks to protect the interests of the state of Israel on campuses, in libraries and in other settings, asserts that Wadie Said, like his father, supports militant Palestinian causes. The group has outlined its objections in a paper addressed to Wayne State President Irvin Reid and Dean Frank Wu of the Wayne State Law School.
“Said’s appointment would dilute academic standards, be detrimental in the classroom and exacerbate problems on campus,” Stand With Us says in a posting on its Web site.
“The son has an ideology that is a radical ideology,” said Roz Rothstein, national director of Stand With Us. “The Saids are not moderate, they are apologists for terrorists.”
Local leaders of Arab and Palestinian descent say those assertions are slander, and that Edward Said long stood for a moderate approach to affairs in the Middle East, while asserting the Palestinians’ right to self-determination. Wadie Said, who could not be contacted Thursday, has said in published statements that resistance is the internationally recognized right of all people under occupation.
The reaction among local residents of Arab and Palestinian descent was quick and outraged Thursday.
“Edward Said was one of the great academics of all time and he collaborated with and was well-respected by several Jewish scholars in his lifetime, and the fact that they would target his son is offensive and disingenuous,” said Ismael Ahmad, executive director of the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services.
Some leaders of Palestinian and Arab descent said the effort by Stand With Us is part of a pattern of attempts to portray the local Arab community as radical.
“To us, what Mr. Said is facing is no shock or surprise,” said Imad Hamad, Michigan director of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, a national civil rights organization. “Many community leaders and organizations, including the ADC, have been subjected to this political labeling, this political profiling and political blackmail.”
Robert Cohen, executive director of the Jewish Community Council in Metro Detroit, said he is confident the university will fill the Law School post based on qualifications, in the spirit of academic freedom.
You can reach Gregg Krupa at (313) 222-2359 or gkrupa@detnews.com.
