Effort to deny tenure ignites protests at DePaul: dean rejects promotion for critic of Israel, saying he lacks 'Vincentian values'

National Catholic Reporter, April 20, 2007 by Robert McClory

An attempt to deny promotion and tenure to an outspoken professor at DePaul University here has created a tidal wave of protest in the academic community and among rights activists. Letters to university officials and online petitions are urging, even demanding, that Norman Finkelstein, an assistant professor of political science, receive promotion and tenure despite a recommendation by Charles Suchar, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, that he be rejected.

One petition, placed online April 4, garnered some 3,000 signatures within a week. A letter sponsored by the Norman Finkelstein Solidarity Committee attracted more than 100 signatures from scholars and professors within a few days. Another letter, signed by some 600 academics in the United States and abroad, was to be delivered to the university president by week's end.

Finkelstein has been at DePaul for six years and is an advocate of Palestinian rights. He contends that the university is determined to use a subterfuge, namely his alleged failure to promote "Vincentian values," to get rid of him because his position is unacceptable to supporters of Israel's human rights record. The university was founded by the Vincentian religious order and continues to promote the concern for the poor exhibited by St. Vincent de Paul,

Finkelstein's 2005 book, Beyond Chutzpah. On the Misuse of AntiSemitism and the Abuse of History, chew a chorus of complaints from supporters of Israel, most notably from Harvard University law professor Alan Dershowitz. In the book Finkelstein rejected, case by case, the glowing characterizations of Israeli policy in Dershowitz's own book, The Case for Israel. Finkelstein contended that the record shows that Palestinian houses were wantonly destroyed, that Palestinian prisoners were brutally tortured, that Palestinian medical centers were directly attacked, and that the Palestinian population was needlessly provoked to violence under Israeli policy.

In his writing and frequent speeches, Finkelstein pulls no punches, calling apologists for Israelis' occupation tactics liars and victims of dementia. The dialogue between Finkelstein and Dershowitz has been particularly vitriolic, including mutual accusations of character assassination and libel. In Beyond Chutzpah, Finkelstein accused Dershowitz of plagiarism; Dershowitz has called Finkelstein an "enemy of peace, civility and decency" beloved by neo-Nazis and Holocaust deniers.

An earlier book by Finkelstein, The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering, in which he accused Israel supporters of using the Holocaust to justify Israeli policies and claims, also provoked pointed charges and counter-charges between the two men.

In his role as DePaul professor, Finkelstein has received praise. Considering his application for promotion and tenure, the College Personnel Committee noted that he repeatedly received strong evaluations from students, many regarding his class as a "transformative experience." The committee also praised his skill in encouraging discussion of controversial and complex topics. Some committee members were troubled by his frequent personal attacks on his critics but nevertheless found his "passionate scholarship" to be of a "high standard."

The committee recommended promotion and tenure by a 5-0 vote. He was also supported by a committee in his own political science department, by a 9-3 vote. The three dissenters submitted a minority report objecting to Finkelstein's often abrasive approach to his critics. A third university-wide committee will also consider Finkelstein's credentials. The final decision on promotion and tenure will be made by the DePaul University president, Vincentian Fr. Dennis Holtschneider, probably in June.

Despite the overall positive finding by Finkelstein's peers, Suchar, the arts and sciences dean, issued a lengthy memorandum in which he stated his objections. He acknowledged Finkelstein's abilities as an instructor, but said, "My own estimation of the tone and substance of his scholarship is that a considerable amount of it is inconsistent with DePaul's Vincentian values, most particularly our institutional commitment to respect the dignity of the individual and to respect the rights of others to hold and express different intellectual positions--what I take to be one significant meaning of what we term Vincentian 'personalism.'" On that basis, said Suchar, he could not support Finkelstein's application.

Several DePaul professors said it is unusual for a dean to contradict the strong recommendations of university committees, and they were puzzled by Suchar's appeal to something as vague as Vincentian values. So was Finkelstein.

In his small, cluttered office on DePaul's northside Chicago campus, Finkelstein appeared calm and self-assured and made frank comments about his situation. He was born in Brooklyn, and both his parents were Holocaust survivors. He has visited the Israeli-occupied territories more than a dozen times.