[NYTr] Academic Freedom: DePaul & Dershowitz v Finkelstein & Larudee

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

sent by Francis Boyle - Sep 6, 2007

[What this article has left unsaid is that DePaul quite unexpectedly
denied tenure to  Professor Mehrene Larudee because she organized public
support for  Norman Finkelstein. There is no way DePaul is going to be
able to spin that decision as well. These two non-meritorious and
politically biased tenure denials prove that DePaul is just a
fourth-rate university that squelches academic freedom and denies
academic tenure. Why go there?  -fab.]


Inside Higher Ed via AALSMIN-L mailing list - Sep 6, 2007
http://insidehighered.com/news/2007/09/06/finkelstein


Finkelstein and DePaul Settle

by Scott Jaschik

Wednesday was supposed to be the day of the big showdown at DePaul
University. Instead it turned out to be the day of the big compromise.
DePaul and Norman Finkelstein, the professor to whom it had denied
tenure, announced that he was resigning immediately. 
<http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/06/11/finkelstein> 

The university and Finkelstein even managed to say some nice things
about one another. But while Finkelstein will be leaving, some at the
university and elsewhere believe that significant academic freedom
issues raised by his case are very much alive.

The statements issued by the university and Finkelstein did not contain
details of their agreement and they reiterated some of the main
arguments in the dispute: Finkelstein's view that outside groups had
inappropriate influence in the process and the university's insistence
that the tenure denial was fair.
<http://sherman.depaul.edu/media/webapp/mrNews2.asp?NID=1655&ln=true>

In his remarks, Finkelstein blamed the outcome on "external pressures
climaxing in a national hysteria that tainted the tenure process." But
he went on to note ways in which DePaul had backed him up.

"Although DePaul's decision to deny me tenure was a bitter blow, I would
be remiss in my responsibilities if I did not also acknowledge DePaul's
honorable role of providing a scholarly haven for me the past six years.
It is a fact, and I would want to acknowledge it, that the DePaul
administration kept me on its faculty despite overwhelming external
pressures. It is also a fact that my professional colleagues displayed
rare rectitude in steadfastly supporting me. It is also a fact that
DePaul students rose to dazzling spiritual heights in my defense that
should be the envy of and an example for every university in the United
States. I will miss them."

In the university's statement, it said that the tenure review was based
on appropriate criteria. "Professor Finkelstein has expressed the view
that he should have been granted tenure and that third parties external
to the University influenced DePaul in denying tenure. That is not so.
Over the past several months, there has been considerable outside
interest about the tenure decision. This attention was unwelcome and
inappropriate. In the end, however, it had absolutely no impact on
either the process or the final outcome," the statement said. But DePaul
also praised Finkelstein as "a prolific scholar and an outstanding
teacher."

Finkelstein had been hinting of his intent to sue DePaul, and on
Wednesday he had been planning to return to the office from which he had
been barred after he was placed on administrative leave
<http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/08/27/depaul> . In fact he
announced the settlement to students who had gathered to support him,
many of them wearing T-shirts that read "We are all Professor
Finkelstein."

The furor over Finkelstein has been building for several years. A
political scientist, he is known for his books that offer harsh
critiques of Israel and its supporters. He has argued that Israel uses
the Holocaust to build support for policies that are immoral. And he has
engaged in public feuds with the likes of Alan Dershowitz, trading 
charges and counter-charges with him. See:
<http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/article.php?pg=11&ar=50> and
<http://www.alandershowitz.com/publications/docs/finkelsteinsbigotry.htm

While Finkelstein has long been controversial off the DePaul campus, he
was popular with his students and even his critics at the university
acknowledged that he was an excellent teacher. The case is also
frequently portrayed as one in which Finkelstein (a leftist critic of
Israel) is allied against conservative supporters of Israel, but it's
not so neat. Some academics who strongly disagree with Finkelstein's
views have said his academic freedom was violated in the tenure review,
and some academics who share Finkelstein's politics have questioned his
scholarship.

In the tenure case, Finkelstein took the first two rounds, winning the
backing of his department and a collegewide committee, but he started
to hit roadblocks when his case went to the dean, a universitywide
panel and eventually the president.
<http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/04/03/finkelstein> 

As votes started to go against Finkelstein, a key factor was statements
that his scholarly style conflicted with the Roman Catholic
university's Vincentian values. In his letter denying Finkelstein
tenure, Rev. Dennis H. Holtschneider, DePaul's president, said: "I have
considered the fact that reviewers at all levels, both for and against
tenure, commented upon your ad hominem attacks on scholars with whom
you disagree. In the opinion of those opposing tenure, your
unprofessional personal attacks divert the conversation away from
consideration of ideas, and polarize and simplify conversations that
deserve layered and subtle consideration. As such, they believe your
work not only shifts toward advocacy and away from scholarship, but
also fails to meet the most basic standards governing scholarship
discourse within the academic community."

Comments like those raised red flags to many advocates for academic
freedom. The American Association of University Professors and others
have warned that when tenure evaluations start talking about the impact
of a scholar on people's feelings or about how collegial (or not) they
are, attention is being diverted from the teaching and research issues
that should be central. These groups have also warned that such
critiques are frequently used against scholars whose views are unpopular
- precisely those academic freedom should protect. When DePaul suspended
Finkelstein's courses and took away his office last month, further
alarms went off, since the norm in academe is for professors denied
tenure to have a "terminal year" in which they teach and maintain their
academic lives, while looking for a new position.

For Finkelstein, that process is now expedited, and it's unclear where
he will end up. In the blog College Freedom, he is quoted as saying
that "my prospects in academia are dim," because colleges saw what
DePaul experienced and "nobody wants to go through this hysteria."
<http://collegefreedom.blogspot.com/2007/09/finkelstein-and-depaul-reach-settlement.html> 

Daniel Klimek, a rising senior in political science and one of the
students recently informed by the university that Finkelstein's course
"Equality and Social Justice" was among those called off, said he had
mixed feelings about Wednesday's developments. "We are disappointed that
Professor Finkelstein has resigned. Many students will miss him." At the
same time, Klimek said he thought Finkelstein had won a key victory in
the university's praise for him as a teacher. "I think he left with his
head held high," Klimek said.

It was also the case, however, that Finkelstein had until the very last
been vowing to fight on indefinitely. His Web site still proclaimed,
as of last night, "I will return to my office. I will teach my classes."
<http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/index.php>

Dershowitz did not respond to an e-mail seeking his comment on the
agreement.

Jonathan Knight, who handles academic freedom issues for the AAUP, which
has been monitoring the case, said that in terms of Finkelstein's
situation, "when a faculty member reaches an agreement with the
institution, that brings the matter to an end." He added that the AAUP
"will not second guess" a professor who does so.

At the same time, he said that he continued to have concerns over a
number of aspects in the case, including the lack of an appeal process
after the tenure denial and the administrative leave Finkelstein
received without a hearing. "Open and fair procedures for questioning
controversial decisions are important," he said.

One irony of the Finkelstein controversy is that DePaul's faculty
actually has been working to revise its faculty handbook, including
tenure procedures, and was doing so prior to this particular tenure
case. "It is really unfortunate that DePaul came to the public eye in
this way, but I think that the issues that were raised are extremely
valuable and valid and going to be considered," said Anne Clark
Bartlett, a professor of English and president of the Faculty Council at
DePaul.

The council meets next week for the first time this academic year, and
Bartlett said she expected a key topic of discussion to be how to
proceed in light of the events of the last few months. "I hope we can
turn it to the benefit of the faculty and the benefit of the continuing
integrity of our tenure and promotion and peer review process," she
said.

The Finkelstein case, to her, pointed to the need for clarity on the
right to appeal tenure decisions, the importance of due process, and the
need to insulate tenure reviews from political pressure. "There is a
larger political context" for the debate over Finkelstein, she said,
"and we would be remiss if we didn't examine that larger context."

Another issue of concern, she said, was the question of Vincentian
values and how they play into tenure and promotion decisions. In theory,
she said, DePaul's current faculty guidelines place the emphasis on
teaching, research and service, and "a huge issue" for her is keeping
such a focus in tenure reviews, especially when looking at controversial
figures.

"Vincentian values cannot be used as code for being a nice person," she
said. Being a nice person shouldn't be what earns a scholar tenure. For
all kinds of reasons, she said, it just doesn't make sense to compare
professors and saints. "As a medievalist, I can tell you that saints are
almost always a pain in the butt," she quipped. "Saints are never easy
to get along with."