The DePaul saga spins on: After Dr. Norman Finkelstein was denied tenure after (and at least partly due to) lengthy lobbying against it by Havard law professor Alan Dershowitz – who apparently still feels abased because of this, this and this – students organised sit-ins and hunger strikes and the AAUP (American Association of University Professors) wrote more – than – one – letter to the university administration over the summer.
Now, as Finkelstein prepared to return to what is planned to be his last year of teaching at DePaul, the administration decided not to allow him to do so, cancelling his courses called “Equality and Social Justice” and “Freedom and Empowerment” (which, I insist, isn’t ironic in any way). His response?
“I intend to go to my office on the first day of classes and, if my way is barred, to engage in civil disobedience,” Finkelstein, 53, said in a telephone interview. “If arrested, I’ll go on a hunger strike. If released, I’ll do it all over again. I’ll fast in jail for as long as it takes.”
Support by Finkelstein’s Army (and I don’t use the allusion in a belittling way) stays as high as ever:
Students from the Academic Freedom Committee plan to stage a demonstration at the university’s convocation this coming Friday. “We all feel very passionately about this, that it’s not something we’re willing to back down on,” Ms. Weber said. “It means something to this school, and it means something to us as individuals. I think it means quite a lot to the faculty, too.”
The AAUP points out that the university’s decision to refuse Finkelstein the right to a final year of teaching is in violation of its ground rules and could lead to a lawsuit.
According to the norms of academia, a professor denied tenure has the right to a final year of teaching at the university that turns him down. The watchdog of those rights is the American Association of University Professors, the umbrella organization of college teachers, which can censure a school found in violation of its ground rules. Such a finding also can be the preliminary to a lawsuit against the university by the faculty member.
According to Jonathan Knight, director of the AAUP’s program in academic freedom and tenure, a university owes a faculty member denied tenure more than just a year’s salary. He or she has the right to a classroom (and presumably an office). A university can’t simply buy him or her out by invoking administrative leave, Knight said.
He added that a faculty member can’t be put on administrative leave without a hearing except in an extreme emergency.
“We’re not aware of an emergency requiring DePaul to take such action at the 11th hour and 59th minute,” Knight said.
Finkelstein however prefers to fight back outside of the court
“In the court of public opinion, I can win,” Finkelstein said. “I say: ‘Let the people judge.’”
