WOW! CIVILITYGATE IS BUSTING WIDE OPEN! WHEN WILL THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA GET IN FRONT OF IT? Email contradicts Univ. of Illinois president’s statement on Salaita firing by Ali Abunimah, 09/15/2014 An email obtained by The Electronic Intifada confirms that University of Illinois President Robert Easter initiated contact with Chancellor Phyllis Wise regarding concerns over Professor Steven Salaita in July. The email contradicts a public statement given by Easter to The Electronic Intifada last week that it was Wise who had brought the matter to his attention. The discrepancy between Easter’s account and the email record casts further doubt on the credibility of university officials’ explanations for their firing of Salaita and their lack of transparency over the influence of major donors. Last week, the university’s board of trustees formally rejected Salaita’s appointment to a tenured position in the American Indian Studies program. This came after weeks of campaigning against him by pro-Israel students, faculty and donors outraged at his tweets criticizing Israel’s massacre in Gaza. Meanwhile, the faculty of the Department of African American Studies has become the latest to vote no confidence in the university’s leadership. What the president said .... READ MORE: http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/email-contradicts-univ-illinois-presidents-statement-salaita-firing