Petition updateWe join our voices to those of 41 executive officers at UIUC and call for the reinstatement of Steven Salaita."I have to wonder whether the other side hasn’t simply outpaced us ...."
Rima MerrimanBloomington, IN, United States
Sep 5, 2014 — BREAKING: CHANCELLOR WISE DISAVOWS HER OWN DECISION AS HER ADMINISTRATION UNRAVELS ('I’m speechless: I don’t think I’ve ever seen an administration, or a decision, unravel quite like this.' - Scott Cameron) From Illinois Public Media: The chancellor of the University of Illinois Urbana campus Thursday expressed regret about the way she came to a decision to withdraw a job offer to a professor [Steven Salaita] who posted inflammatory comments on Twitter – a decision she said was “pretty unilateral.” Chancellor Phyllis Wise said members of the Board of Trustees told her in July that they likely would not approve the appointment of Professor Steven Salaita. A week later, Wise sent a letter to Salaita rescinding the job offer. “The judgment I made in writing him was to convey the sentiment of the Board of Trustees, it was not mine.” She said. “And I did it because I thought I was doing something humane for him.” Humane, she said, because she didn’t want Salaita to move his family to Urbana only to learn his appointment was not approved. Earlier today I reported on a meeting Wise had with students on Wednesday, where she said, “I, in hindsight, wish I had been a little bit more deliberate and had consulted with more people before I made that decision.” But now she goes further, claiming her decision was “pretty unilateral.” And then she drops this bombshell: that in dehiring Steven Salaita, Wise was expressing “the sentiment of the Board of Trustees, it was not mine.” So not only did her decision not reflect any of the academic voices on campus; it didn’t even reflect her own opinion. I’m speechless: I don’t think I’ve ever seen an administration, or a decision, unravel quite like this. In other news, the department of anthropology and the department of comparative and world literature today took votes of no confidence in the leadership of UIUC. That makes for a total of eight votes of no confidence. But with the Chancellor herself now seeming to take a vote of no confidence in the University’s leadership, including her own, I have to wonder whether the other side hasn’t simply outpaced us in their criticism and condemnation of their terrible decision. - Scott Cameron
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