Promulgating left-wing views wouldn’t be considered a cause for dismissal at most college campuses, but that’s what supporters of DePaul University professor Norman G. Finkelstein say led to his ouster.
Mr. Finkelstein’s case has become a cause celebre in academia as his backers accuse the university of violating the professor’s free-speech rights.
Meanwhile, Mr. Finkelstein, 53, says he plans to return to the Chicago campus Wednesday, the first day of the fall quarter, to teach “Equality in Social Justice” and other classes, even if it means facing arrest.
“I intend to get arrested if passage to my office is impeded, and I will go on a hunger strike to defend basic principles of academic freedom and due process,” Mr. Finkelstein wrote in an e-mail to The Washington Times. “I understand that many students will accompany me to my office and also intend to engage in civil disobedience.”
The Finkelstein camp contends the professor was denied tenure in June because of his vehement criticism of Israel, which he compared to Nazi Germany. He was called a Holocaust denier for accusing Jews of exploiting the Holocaust for financial gain and exaggerating the horrors of the camps. Mr. Finkelstein’s parents are concentration-camp survivors.
When the Princeton-educated professor was denied tenure, he was told he would be able to teach for another year. Last week, however, the school canceled his classes and placed him on a paid, one-year administrative leave.
The move infuriated Mr. Finkelstein’s student supporters, who held an impromptu demonstration Friday during DePaul’s opening convocation. Another protest is planned for Wednesday outside the political-science building.
The American Association of University Professors has weighed in on Mr. Finkelstein’s behalf, urging DePaul to allow him to appeal the tenure decision and to reinstate the professor for the 2007-08 school year.
Daniel Klimek, spokesman for the DePaul Academic Freedom Committee, said the student group is searching for an off-campus venue in which Mr. Finkelstein can teach the three canceled classes.
“All his classes were filled to maximum capacity. He was very popular on campus,” Mr. Klimek said.
At the same time, his critics are legion. Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz actively campaigned against Mr. Finkelstein’s tenure, accusing him of shoddy scholarship and bigotry.
“He’s a Hamas Jew,” said David Horowitz, conservative author and critic of campus liberalism. “He’s an abettor of Muslim fanatics who want to kill all Jews in the Middle East.”
Mr. Finkelstein has collected more than his share of pink slips. Before coming to DePaul in 2001, he lost jobs at Hunter College, New York University, Brooklyn College and Rutgers University.
After the tenure vote, Mr. Finkelstein got into a well-publicized argument with Dean Charles Suchar in an elevator lobby. Later, the university cited his “behavior at the end of the spring quarter” as a factor in the decision to place him on administrative leave.
His student backers dismissed the explanation as a smoke screen. At Friday’s rally, several dozen protesters wore T-shirts with the message, “We Are All Professor Finkelstein.”
“It’s quite apparent that this is being done for political reasons,” said Kathryn Weber, who heads the student committee. “What we’re saying is that a professor should be judged on the merits of his scholarship, and not on the basis of whether someone likes what he has to say.”
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