U. of South Florida Fires Professor Accused of Terrorism

By SCOTT SMALLWOOD

Thursday, February 27, 2003

The University of South Florida ended its tortuous relationship with Sami Al-Arian on Wednesday by firing the computer-engineering professor, who federal authorities allege is a terrorist leader.

President Judy L. Genshaft said that Mr. Al-Arian had abused his position as a professor and misused the university. "We have determined that USF must sever all ties to Sami Al-Arian once and for all," she said in a news conference held to announce the decision. "His use of this educational institution for improper, non-educational purposes will not be tolerated. No longer will he be able to hide behind the shield of academic freedom."

A Palestinian born in Kuwait, Mr. Al-Arian has lived in the United States since the mid-1970s and has worked at South Florida since 1986. In the fall of 2001, a controversy erupted after he was interviewed on television about his alleged terrorist ties. The professor, 45, was placed on paid leave.

The firing of Mr. Al-Arian came less than a week after police arrested the professor, charging him on February 20 with raising money to support the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The 50-count indictment alleges that Mr. Al-Arian used the university and two now-defunct entities, the World and Islam Studies Enterprises and the Islamic Committee for Palestine, as fronts for terrorist activities.

Ms. Genshaft said the indictment was "a confirmation of the thoughts we've had all along," but she emphasized that the firing was strictly an employment dispute, not a criminal matter. Ms. Genshaft first tried to fire Mr. Al-Arian more than a year ago, but faculty members and academic organizations rallied to his defense. On Wednesday, she said the professor would have been dismissed even without the federal indictment.

But the timing is no coincidence, says Elizabeth Bird, a professor of anthropology at South Florida who has been critical of the administration's handling of the case. "Of course they're connected," she said. "For many months, I've heard informally that people thought, If only the FBI would charge him it would make things easier. Without the charges, I think we'd still be in this stalemate."

The letter of termination the university hand-delivered on Wednesday to Mr. Al-Arian's lawyers cites the indictment heavily, saying that it provides new information that confirms the university's position. "The university cannot decide whether you are guilty of crimes," the letter says. "Rather, the university must decide whether there is just cause; namely, that it is more likely than not that there are sufficient facts to warrant the termination of your employment."

Mr. Al-Arian's case has become a battle cry for those worried about infringement on free speech and academic freedom. But Ms. Genshaft said he was being fired not for what he said, but for what she said he did: misuse his university position to raise money for terrorists. "It's using academic freedom and hiding behind that for destructive purposes," she said.

The American Association of University Professors has supported Mr. Al-Arian's right to defend his job and has raised concerns about how the university's procedures have threatened academic freedom and tenure.

"We're recognizing that it is a tough position for the University of South Florida, but we're still disturbed. This is a person who never had a hearing on the campus about the speech that they originally objected to," said Ruth Flower, a spokeswoman for the association, which could censure the university. "It's the due-process issues that have always engaged our concerns. The decisions are being made by the president, not with a council of peers as would be normal in an academic situation."

Ms. Flower said the association realizes that the indictment provides new information that may make it more difficult to defend Mr. Al-Arian's academic-freedom rights. "Those are the times when those rights really matter, when things are really tough," she said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Al-Arian remains in jail, where he says he has gone on a hunger strike. His bail hearing was postponed Tuesday so his lawyers could have more time to prepare. His criminal lawyer said he would not comment on the professor's firing.

On Tuesday, in a statement read by his daughter on the courthouse steps, Mr. Al-Arian called himself a political prisoner.

"I'm crucified today because of who I am, a stateless Palestinian, an Arab and Muslim, and outspoken advocate for Palestinian rights," the statement said. "I'm a prisoner because of the hysteria engulfing this country in the aftermath of the 9/11 tragedy."

In addition to Mr. Al-Arian, seven other people were indicted last week in the case on racketeering charges. The lengthy indictment refers to several unindicted co-conspirators, and news reports are contending that one of those unnamed individuals has ties to academe. The Cleveland Plain Dealer recently reported that Fawaz Damra, the imam of the Islamic Center of Cleveland, is an unindicted co-conspirator who introduced Mr. Al-Arian at a controversial speech in 1991 and himself made anti-Semitic slurs at the event.

Mr. Damra has taught in recent years at two institutions in the Cleveland area, John Carroll and Cleveland State Universities.

He is teaching a course in Islamic history this semester at John Carroll. A spokesman for the Jesuit university, Jerry Sheehan, said that John Carroll officials are "concerned about reports in the media that identify him as a co-conspirator" in the alleged terrorist activities of Mr. Al-Arian.

But Mr. Sheehan said the reports remain just that: unproven charges made in newspaper accounts, without confirmation by federal law-enforcement authorities. He said that when John Carroll hired Mr. Damra to teach the course this semester, it reviewed evidence that emerged about him in the fall of 2001, when the accusations against Mr. Al-Arian re-emerged.

At that time, Mr. Sheehan said, Mr. Damra "acknowledged that he had made" inflammatory statements about Israel and Jewish people, and "also stated that they no longer represented his views." Since that time, Mr. Sheehan said, Mr. Damra had made himself an "emissary" of Islam to the students and staff of John Carroll, and to Christians and Jews in the Cleveland area.

A spokesman for Cleveland State said that Mr. Damra has not taught there since the middle of 2001.

Mr. Damra did not respond to a telephone message seeking comment.