Tenure decision creates uproar

National Catholic Reporter, June 22, 2007 by Robert McClory

The decision by Chicago's DePaul University to deny tenure and promotion to a controversial political science professor has thrown the university community into an uproar and generated wide and hot discussion about the limits of academic freedom.

Students began a 24-hour sit-in at the office of DePaul's president, Vincentian Fr. Dennis Holtschneider, soon after his decision was announced June 8. The faculty council is expected to protest the denial of tenure. Other faculty members are expected to voice similar concerns at a forthcoming meeting open to the full faculty.

At issue is whether Assistant Professor Norman Finkelstein exceeded acceptable norms of discourse in his books and speeches, or whether university officials were pressed into ousting him for his strong criticism of Israeli policies toward Palestine and his comments about the alleged misuse of the Holocaust by Jewish leaders for propaganda purposes.

"They've been trying to get rid of me for six years," said Finkelstein. "They're always looking for some threadbare pretext. There's double hypocrisy here: a contradiction of the school's commitment to academic freedom in its mission statement and the refusal to admit they are capitulating to my critics."

Adding intrigue to the debate is the fact that another DePaul professor, one who had been an outspoken advocate of Finkelstein, was also denied promotion and tenure. Mehrene Larudee said she was stunned by the rejection. She had been unanimously supported by two university committees, called "outstanding" by the dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and selected to head DePanl's International Studies Program next year. But she was rejected 4-3 by the board on promotions and rejected by Holtschneider. She and Finkelstein were the only two seeking promotion and tenure from the college of arts and sciences to be denied.

"I can't prove there's a connection here," she said, "but I can't think of any other reasonable explanation."

Finkelstein has attracted a horde of critics because he regularly documents charges of human rights violations by Israeli leaders and excoriates those who oppose his research as fools, idiots and liars. His fiercest opponent, Harvard University law professor Alan Dershowitz, has long sought Finkelstein's removal. Yet Finkelstein has also attracted a broad following among students, many of whom regard his classes as fair, open, even "transformative experiences." HIS own political science department voted 93 in support of his request for promotion and tenure, and the college personnel committee endorsed him unanimously.

But Charles Suchar, dean of arts and sciences, disagreed, claiming that a considerable amount of Finkelstein's scholarship "is inconsistent with DePaul's Vincentian values, most particularly our institutional commitment ... to respect the rights of others to hold and express different intellectual positions" (NCR, April 20). In May the university board on promotions voted 4-3 to deny Finkelstein's request.

Holtschneider, who had the fmal decision, did not, in his letter to Finkelstein, criticize his teaching record or the content of his research. He spoke, however, of "your ad hominem attacks on scholars with whom you disagree.... On the record before me, I cannot in good faith conclude that you honor the obligations [under university tenure standards] to 'respect and defend the free inquiry of associates,' 'show due respect for the opinions of others' and 'strive to be objective in their professional judgment of colleagues.' Nor Can I conclude that your scholarship honors our university's commitment to creating an environment in which all persons engaged in research and learning exercise academic freedom and respect for others."

Holtschneider acknowledged that many had "lobbied" DePaul about Finkelstein's situation, creating "unwelcome attention." But he said, "As much as some would like to create the impression that our process and decision have been influenced by outside interests, they are mistaken."

Finkelstein said he is as yet unsure whether to fight the decision at the university level, sue, or move on quietly. "My passion is teaching," he said, "but I will survive. You need perspective. My parents survived the Holocaust. I will survive."

[Robert McClory is associate professor emeritus of the Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University.]