Firings

DePaul University in Chicago has denied tenure to Norman Finkelstein, a Jewish professor of Political Science whose scholarship has been critical of Jews and the State of Israel. Even though recommended by his department and his College, the Board of Promotion and Tenure as well as DePaul's President recommended against Finkelstein's tenure after Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz began making complaints. Finkelstein's official website traces his tenure decision through articles in The Chicago Sun-Times (June 9, 2007), The Chronicle of Higher Education (June 8, 2007), The Chicago Tribune (June 10, 2007), The Washington Post (June 10, 2007), and numerous other sources, as well as examples of Finkelstein's scholarship. Although DePaul has put him on leave for his last year, Finkelstein plans on teaching his last year even if it means going to jail. Student support for Finkelstein has been strong (see www. defendcriticalthinking.org) and DePaul students, faculty and alumni are conducting a sit-in to protest the denial of tenure, even though the administration has threatened the students with expulsion and threatened faculty and alumni with arrest (see http://www.finkelgate. corn). The Chronicle of Higher Education of September 5, 2007 concludes this story by reporting that Finkelstein and the university reached a settlement and that Finkelstein has resigned.

Robert Jensen's "What the Finkelstein Tenure Fight Tells Us About the State of Academia" (www.counterpunch. org, May 27, 2007) both reviews the tenure case and suggests what it means for "the larger project of real academic freedom and responsibility."

Ethnic Studies Professor Ward Churchill at The University of Colorado was fired from his tenured position. Although Churchill was found guilty by a faculty panel at UC of repeated and intentional academic misconduct, the AAUP chapter of UC has written, "the investigation now is widely perceived to be a pretext for firing Churchill when the real reason for dismissal is his politics." For a fuller version of this story, see www. insidehighered.com, July 25, 2007 and www.defendcriticalthinking.org.