On Thu, Nov 12, 2015 at 11:57 AM, Robert Naiman <
[email protected]> wrote:

> The widespread belief around here is that Salaita's insistence that he was
> looking to be reinstated was a negotiating tactic.
>


I didn't get that impression. Although I had a hard time imagining how he
could be reinstated, he did repatedly insist that that was his goal. In any
case, his career as an academic - at least in the US - is likely finished.
He won't starve, the settlement makes sure of that, but the forces that
wanted to silence him ultimately got what they wanted.




> 1. The case brought down Chancellor Wise, when it was exposed that she had
> deliberately used private email to conduct University business in the case
> in order to avoid scrutiny. The interim chancellor appointed in her stead
> has been a champion of resolving the dispute with Salaita.
>


Yes, but Wise's ouster is a small consolation considering that she is still
on the faculty, despite ebing disgraced, but Salaita is not.




> 2. The case showed the power of concerned academics in other institutions
> to exert real pressure on the University in a way that affected the
> University's calculus. The AAUP censure is perceived as a real thing here;
> one of the arguments given here for settling the case with Salaita is that
> this is a key step towards lifting the AAUP sanction. Also, the boycott was
> perceived as a real thing here, damaging the University's reputation,
> making it harder to recruit, making it easier for people to get hired away
> by other institutions.
>


I agree that the big silver lining in this whole thing is the show of
solidarity even from academics who disagreed with Salaita's BDS activities.
The AAUP censure is certainly a nightmare for prestige-obsessed
administrators.





> 3. The University has been going out of its way on other fronts to prove
> that it is not anti-Palestinian. Salaita may not be on the UIUC faculty,
> but Sayed Kashua is. "It's an ill wind that blows no man good." :)
>


I hadn't heard about this one. Thanks for sharing.
-raghu.





>
> An Exile in the Corn Belt
> Israel’s funniest Palestinian writer decamps to the Midwest.
> BY RUTH MARGALIT
> http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/09/07/an-exile-in-the-corn-belt
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Robert Naiman
> Policy Director
> Just Foreign Policy
> www.justforeignpolicy.org
> [email protected]
> (202) 448-2898 x1
>
> On Thu, Nov 12, 2015 at 11:32 AM, raghu <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> On Fri, Aug 7, 2015 at 7:35 PM, raghu <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>> Sadly Salaita's reinstatement still seems highly unlikely, and perhaps
>>> even undesirable considering hostility and resentment he is likely to face
>>> there. But this may clear the way for some kind of resolution.
>>>
>>
>>
>> As I had commented earlier, despite his public pronouncements, it seemed
>> unlikely to me that Salaita would ever get his job back. And that's what
>> has happened.
>>
>> The size of the settlement may offer Salaita some vindication, but it is
>> hard to see this as a victory:
>>
>> https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/steven-salaita-wont-get-job-back-deal-univ-illinois
>> -----------------------------snip
>>
>> Steven Salaita <https://electronicintifada.net/tags/steven-salaita> will
>> not be reinstated under the terms of an out of court settlement with the 
>> University
>> of Illinois <https://electronicintifada.net/tags/university-illinois>.
>>
>> The deal will pay Salaita $875,000 – about ten times the annual salary he
>> would have received as a tenured professor in the American Indian Studies
>> program at the university’s flagship Urbana-Champaign
>> <https://electronicintifada.net/tags/university-illinois-urbana-champaign>
>> campus.
>>
>> “This settlement is a vindication for me, but more importantly, it is a
>> victory for academic freedom and the First Amendment,” Salaita said in a
>> release
>> <https://ccrjustice.org/home/press-center/press-releases/settlement-reached-case-professor-fired-uncivil-tweets>
>> from his legal counsel, the Center for Constitutional Rights and the law
>> firm Loevy & Loevy.
>>
>> The settlement brings an end to Salaita’s breach of contract lawsuit
>> against university trustees and administrators over his August 2014 firing
>> because of his tweets excoriating Israel’s attack on Gaza.
>>
>> Salaita had sought reinstatement as well as financial damages.
>>
>> The terms of the deal will come as a surprise to some supporters. His
>> lawyers had said all along that Salaita was willing to settle, but that his
>> primary goal would be to get his job back.
>> The university has been adamant, however, that it would not allow him
>> into the classroom.
>>
>>
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