USF Fires Palestinian Professor TAMPA (WUSF) - It took the University of South Florida board of trustees two hours to recommend that Sami Al-Arian be fired from his position as an associate professor of computer engineering. Only one of the 13 trustees voted against the recommendation. Howard University president Patrick Swygert wanted him suspended without pay. He was overridden by the other trustees, including chairman Dick Beard.

BEARD: He's been here years with those actions and activities and we've suffered those consequences. And my view is we can't continue to let it happen. And so I believe we've done everything we can do and it's truly in the best interests of this institution that we take this action today.

Al-Arian's case has become a balancing act of free speech versus the security of those who have to work alongside him. He was put on leave without pay after death threats were sent to the university after his appearance on the Fox Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor" in September. During that show, he was questioned about his links to possible terrorists.


Genshaft announced late Wednesday she will fire Al-Arian. In her letter to him, she noted the "continuing threat" to the school's students, faculty and staff. In earlier comments to trustees, she she did not hide her concern for the effects Al-Arian's public comments have had on the university.

GENSHAFT: We can see a pattern of willful, perhaps calculated, behavior that hurts the interest of this university. Since Dr. Al-Arian decided to appear on national television broadcast on Sept. 26, I have spent an enormous, a disproportionate, amount of my time on this issue.


Genshaft says in her dealings with everyone from members of congress on down, this topic has overshadowed all others. Even some college donors have written, saying they are withholding their contributions to the school.

GENSHAFT: Throughout the institution, we are dealing with a level of disruption that no university anywhere is set up to deal with on an ongoing basis.

The professor would be given 10 days to respond. Telephone calls to his home were not returned.

Al-Arian's actions were defended by several people at the Tampa meeting. Pilar Saad of Tampa heads the United Muslim Association, which is made up of local Muslim women.


SAAD: I just think it's a sad day in America when our freedom and rights of free speech are being limited by groups and people who can't tolerate free speech and who go to such drastic measures to make sure someone doesn't exercise that free speech.

She believes the professor's future is being determined by outside forces he has no control over.

SAAD: In many respects, he's a gifted, talented, intelligent individual and I think he's deliberately being targeted by people who oppose his views and I think that's very sad in America. We Muslims feel our rights to speak out are being limited. Because we'll be attacked for our views.

Trustee Margarita Cancio says the most precious gift Americans have is the right to say what they please. But she says his statements have disrupted the university's ability to function normally.

CANCIO: This is not about freedom of speech. This is not about Dr. Al-Arian's view. He has the rights to have his views. What I have a problem is he cannot do his job at this university.

Since Al-Arian is tenured, the university must show his behavior adversely affects ``legitimate interests of the university.'' University Police Sgt. Mike Klingebiel told the trustees the the school has received numerous threats against the professor. And more people than just the professor are threatened.

KLINGEBIEL: For him to return, we would have to expend great resources to insure not just his safety, but the safety of co-workers, those who have an office near him, those who park near him, his route on and off campus. Everyone who attends his class. I don't know what extreme we'd go to, but the University Police Department does not have the internal resources for that.

Al-Arian's World and Islam Studies Enterprise was set up at USF until 1995, when it was closed after a raid by the FBI. Federal agents say the think tank and a related charity Al-Arian ran were fronts for the terrorist group Islamic Jihad. One of their conferences featured as a speaker Sheik Omar Abdul Rahman, who was later convicted for the first bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993.

And a former WISE director, Ramadan Shallah, assumed command of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad less than six months after leaving Tampa.

Al-Arian, who is not a U.S. citizen, has never been charged with a crime.
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