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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Academic Freedom and Tenure: The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

This report finds that the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) administration and the board of trustees of the University of Illinois violated principles of academic freedom when they withdrew a tenured faculty appointment that had been offered to Professor Steven Salaita. The job offer was withdrawn after Professor Salaita made a series of impassioned Twitter posts expressing outrage about the war in Gaza.

Developments Relating to Association Censure

Response to Cary Nelson

In a response to an essay in this issue of the Journal of Academic Freedom by Cary Nelson about the appointment of Steven Salaita at the University of Illinois, the author seeks to set the record straight and suggests that Nelson is grinding a political ax.

Steven Salaita’s Scholarly Record and the Problem of His Appointment

Abstract: Despite several published essays about two of Steven Salaita’s books, there has so far been no comprehensive scholarly review of his published work or about how it bears on his appointment in the American Indian Studies Program at the University of...

Everything Old Is New Again: Bertrand Russell and Steven Salaita

The decision by trustees of the University of Illinois to revoke a tenured position offered to Steven Salaita evokes another, long-ago controversy. In 1940, a New York court revoked the appointment of Bertrand Russell to a faculty position at the College of the City of New York, in part because of Russell’s allegedly “immoral” writings. It is difficult, if not impossible, to simultaneously deplore Russell’s firing and support Salaita’s.

Steven Salaita, the Media, and the Struggle for Academic Freedom

By Peter N. Kirstein

The Changing Media and Academic Freedom

By John K. Wilson

New Faculty Union at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

By Edward J. Graham