In a press conference yesterday, University of Southern Florida professor Sami Al-Arian said he would fight the dismissal being brought against him due to suspected terrorist links.
"I am not the culprit here," Al-Arian, a Palestinian and local Muslim community leader, said at the afternoon news conference, where representatives of national Muslim groups and civil rights organizations rallied around him.
USF President Judy Genshaft fired Al-Arian, a tenured computer science professor, on Dec. 19 after an emergency meeting of the school's Board of Trustees.
Genshaft told the Faculty Senate that Al-Arian's activities and anti-Israel views have caused threats, delayed faculty recruitment, affected donations and forced increased security.
"The University Police advise that we cannot guarantee the safety of Dr. Al-Arian and students, faculty and staff around him if he were back on campus," Genshaft said in a statement on Dec. 19.
Genshaft denied that Al-Arian's views had anything to do with the decision to let him go.
Firing Al-Arian, who has not been charged with a crime, has made the university the center of an intense debate about academic and intellectual freedom in the wake of Sept. 11.
Though Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has praised the University's move, both the president of the school's faculty union and the United Faculty of Florida stated last week that they would support Al-Arian, both financially and legally, in his appeal.
Having the backing of the UFF also means that Al-Arian will obtain support through the publications of UFF's three affiliates: the Florida Education Association, the National Education Association and the American Federation for Teachers.
"What people need to understand about the culture of academic life is that the intellectual freedom in this environment is more important than whether you like any individuals who exercise that freedom," said Tom Auxter, the president of the UFF.
Roy Weatherford, president of USF's faculty union, told the USF Oracle that "It's not a legitimate issue ... there were no genuine reasons" for firing Al-Arian.
Al-Arian founded the World and Islam Studies Enterprises, a think tank that was based at USF until the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided it in 1995 and froze all of its assets.
The FBI and the Immigration and Naturalization Service alleged that the think tank and another Palestinian charity were a front to help raise funds for Islamic terrorist activity.
The controversy over the professor arose after Al-Arian made an appearance on Fox News Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor," where he was questioned about his terrorist links.
Following the television appearance, Al-Arian received a series of death threats.
