Last month, the University of Illinois revoked the tenured appointment of a professor because of his controversial tweets about Israel's conflict with the Palestinians.
So it begs the question: Could something like this happen at Northern Illinois University?
It hasn't yet, according to NIU faculty members, but it could. The grey employment area between accepting an offer letter and board of trustee approval is a big part of this debate.
Steven Salaita had been named a Native American Studies professor at the Champaign-Urbana campus, but got into trouble over tweets like this:
U of I Chancellor Phyllis Wise initially was urged by some -- including university donors -- to reconsider Salaita’s employment, and she sent a letter of revocation. Several U of I departments voted “no confidence” in the chancellor as a result. The Chicago Tribune reported that Wise wished she had consulted with more people before sending the letter.
Bill Pitney is the faculty senate president at NIU. He says something to consider would be whether or not students would be comfortable attending class with the professor’s controversial views.
“On the one hand for me, it makes sense that maybe those comments has deeply impacted the teaching and learning of students. But on the other hand, as a citizen, with the first amendment rights, shouldn’t you be able to articulate those?” ---Bill Pitney, NIU Faculty Senate President
NIU law professor Mark Cordes says he personally thinks the tweets were protected speech, but he said some bordered on hate speech.
“I think the speech can be condemned by the university. I think the university should take a position condemning speech of the sort that took place, but I think the first amendment protects that speech because it does not directly interfere with the core teaching function.” ---Mark Cordes, NIU Law Professor
Cordes says academic freedom and civility would be major points to consider in Salaita’s situation. He also says something else to consider in this case would be whether tweets would hinder his duties as a professor.
“They can’t punish you or restrict your political views, but they certainly can put limits on how you express them.” ---Mark Cordes, NIU Law Professor
Pitney said the faculty senate would provide a voice for a professor in this type of situation, but a decision like this can’t be overturned by petition.
“As faculty, we should be able to engage in inquiry, create new knowledge, share that knowledge, and we ought to be able to share that knowledge even if it makes folks uncomfortable or uncertain about it. It’s part of our job to create new knowledge.” ---Bill Pitney, NIU Faculty Senate President
NIU trustee Robert Boey says he was sympathetic for the U of I's trustees side of this issue.
"I'm in complete agreement with the decision made by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees. I think that they did the right thing." ---Robert Boey, NIU Trustee