[News] Salaita firing shows where Zionism meets neoliberalism at US universities
Anti-Imperialist News
news at freedomarchives.org
Tue Sep 2 12:01:58 EDT 2014
/2 articles follow/
Salaita firing shows where Zionism meets neoliberalism at US universities
Tithi Bhattacharya
<http://electronicintifada.net/people/tithi-bhattacharya> and
Bill V. Mullen <http://electronicintifada.net/people/bill-v-mullen>
*http://electronicintifada.net/content/salaita-firing-shows-where-zionism-meets-neoliberalism-us-universities/13826*
2 September 2014
In the past ten months, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/university-illinois-urbana-champaign> (UIUC)
administration has done two things of note: rejected the American
Studies Association
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/american-studies-association> (ASA)
vote to boycott Israeli universities and fired Arab-American boycott
supporter Steven Salaita
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/steven-salaita>.
Six months ago, we asked in an essay "Why is the American elite scared
of BDS? <http://mondoweiss.net/2014/02/american-elite-scared.html>" ---
the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement.
In the case of UIUC, the answer is simple and clear: deep political and
financial ties between the university's leadership and Israel.
But it's not just about Israel.
Our university administrators are deeply embedded in a second project:
that of corporate neoliberalism.
In fact, the Salaita case clearly discloses how Zionism and
neoliberalism can converge in the board rooms of university presidents
and trustees, with perilous consequences for students and faculty.
Conflict of interest
Let us start with UIUC Chancellor Phyllis Wise
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/phyllis-wise>. Since 2009, Wise has
served on the governing board
<http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2012-09-17/wise-expects-stay-nike-board.html>
of Nike Corporation.
In 2013, Wise earned approximately $290,000
<http://www.forbes.com/profile/phyllis-wise/> in annual salary and other
compensation for her services to Nike, on top of the more than $500,000
in salary
<http://www.dailyillini.com/collection_92648e0a-2193-11e2-9e2e-001a4bcf6878.html?mode=nogs>
she earns as UIUC chancellor.
As it is a global company, it is no surprise that Nike sells shoes in
Israel. It has stores in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Netanya, and eight other
cities. Its Israeli websites promote "Nike Running Israel" and other
slick marketing campaigns.
One of Nike's suppliers, according to
<http://www.whoprofits.org/company/delta-galil-industries> the research
organization Who Profits
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/who-profits>, is Delta Galil
Industries, a manufacturer of textiles for undergarments.
Delta Galil operates in the Barkan Industrial Zone
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/barkan-industrial-zone>, an illegal
Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank.
Delta Galil also has two shops operating in Israeli settlements: Maaleh
Adumim <http://electronicintifada.net/tags/maaleh-adumim> and Pisgat Zeev.
Companies like Victoria's Secret have been investigated by Who Profits
for their business dealings with Delta Galil.
Who Profits has also named Nike as a company that receives supplies from
the West Bank manufacturer.
Phyllis Wise has said she opposed the ASA boycott resolution on grounds
of "academic freedom <http://illinois.edu/lb/article/1303/80478>," and
that Steven Salaita's political criticisms of Israel were not relevant
to his firing
<http://electronicintifada.net/content/criticizing-israel-worse-murder-university-illinois/13801>.
Such sanctimonious sentiments would ring truer if Wise was not on the
board of a company that directly profits from the Israeli occupation of
Palestinian territories.
It is perhaps unreasonable for us to expect Wise to act in the interests
of scholarship when she is serving Nike, an arrangement that at its most
polite could be called a "conflict of interest."
The Kennedy connection
Now let's look at UIUC Board of Trustees President Christopher Kennedy,
another vocal critic
<http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-salaita-ayers-backlash-20140829-story.html>
of Steven Salaita.
In 2009, Kennedy was appointed to the UIUC Board of Trustees by Illinois
Governor Pat Quinn.
Kennedy is on the Board of Trustees of Ariel Mutual Funds, part of the
Chicago-based Ariel Investments. Ariel Investments' fortunes began to
soar in 2010
<http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20100515/ISSUE01/100033389/ariel-investments-logs-best-year-ever-reversing-painful-losing-streak>
when it added new stocks, including DeVry and Pfizer.
Both Pfizer <http://www.pfizer.co.il/default.aspx> and DeVry
<http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/730464/000095012311080434/c65966exv21.htm>
operate extensively in Israel.
Kennedy also has some interesting friends and business associates.
Kennedy, the son of the late Senator Robert F. Kennedy
<http://www.jfklibrary.org/JFK/The-Kennedy-Family/Robert-F-Kennedy.aspx>, is
the chairperson of Joseph Kennedy Enterprises, a financial entity named
after his grandfather.
One of the directors of Kennedy Enterprises is Roy J. Zuckerberg
<http://www.samsonca.com/roy-j-zuckerberg/>.
When not acting as a director of Kennedy's business empire, Zuckerberg
also serves as chairperson of the Board of Governors of Israel's
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/ben-gurion-university-negev-0>.
In 2009, Zuckerberg received an honorary doctorate
<http://www.aabgu.org/media-center/news-releases/bgu-confers-honorary-doctoral.html>
from Ben-Gurion University for his contributions as a "generous
philanthropist, an enthusiastic Zionist, a concerned and influential
member of the US Jewish community."
The Negev --- "Naqab <http://electronicintifada.net/tags/negev-naqab>"
to its native Palestinian Bedouin population --- is of course a desert
and semi-arid region from which Israel has attempted to ethnically
cleanse tens of thousands
<http://electronicintifada.net/tags/prawer-plan> of Bedouins since 1948.
Israel has in fact long eyed the Negev for expanded Israeli settlements.
"Ardent supporter" of Israel
Zuckerberg also helps us understand the close relationship between
University of Illinois trustees such as Kennedy, and the Governor of
Illinois Pat Quinn. It should be remembered that Quinn, as governor, is
an ex-officio member of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees.
Zuckerberg serves as honorary chairman of Ben-Gurion University's
Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research
<http://w3.bgu.ac.il/ziwr/intro.htm>, which conducts studies ostensibly
designed to improve the lives of inhabitants of "drylands" like the Negev.
In July 2011, Quinn went to Israel
<http://www.wbez.org/story/governor-quinn-week-long-trip-israel-89378>
and signed two agreements: a "sister lakes" agreement to improve
maintenance of water conditions in Lake Michigan and Lake Tiberias which
is a conduit for water to the Negev; and an agreement for student and
faculty exchange between Ben-Gurion University and the University of
Illinois at Chicago.
It should also be noted that Quinn's trip to Israel in 2011 was
supported by the Jewish United Fund
<http://www.juf.org/news/israel.aspx?id=74719> (JUF) as "part of a JUF
initiative that, for the past two decades, has brought influential
leaders to Israel."
On its own website
<https://www.njdc.org/media/entry/patquinnfactsheet102810>, the National
Democratic Jewish Council notes that Quinn is "an ardent supporter of
Israel and has used his elected positions in Illinois to strengthen
relations between Illinois and Israel."
The same website notes that prior to becoming governor, Quinn worked to
make sure Illinois state bonds were invested in Israel.
This is the same Pat Quinn who has appointed eight of the nine current
trustees at UIUC --- people with the final say over Steven Salaita's job.
Should we be surprised then that the University of Illinois, whose
public face is represented by figures with such a network of close ties
to Israel, virulently opposed the ASA boycott of Israeli universities?
Or that figures like Wise and Kennedy would approve the firing of
Salaita, a distinguished scholar, author of six books, and vocal critic
of the Israeli occupation?
The answer is no.
Indeed, in recent years, we have almost been forced to accept that the
upper administration in US universities have very little to do with one
aspect of the university --- scholarship.
But what should concern people everywhere who care about such matters is
that these people still have enormous power in how scholarship is
conducted, or who has the right to teach and learn.
Unionize and "de-Zionize"
Salaita's disgraceful treatment by UIUC administrators is not just about
their support for Israel. It is also a direct outcome of the increasing
corporatization of higher education.
When university policymakers consort with corporate profiteers, the
direction of investments and profits will naturally shape university policy.
In this case, the University of Illinois shows us how the "neoliberal"
university allies itself with Zionism as a settler-colonial project.
The illegal occupation of Palestine has helped savvy university
presidents and trustees earn handsome dividends, while using their
positions to reject criticisms of Israel at the universities they head.
The solution is to de-Zionize our campuses.
We need a movement to force our universities to divest from Israel. And
we need a movement to force accountability and faculty governance from
our top administrators.
This is why, at this juncture in history, the boycott, divest and
sanctions movement against Israel, and faculty unionization should go
hand and in hand.
Imagine if there had already been in place at UIUC a militant and
unionized faculty. Better still, imagine if that faculty union had
already voted for university divestment from Israel.
Would Phyllis Wise, faced with this union, have been able to take her
executive decision to fire Salaita?
The Salaita case shows us the necessary next step in our struggle for
him and for all of us.
The Association of American University Professors (AAUP) has made a
strong statement
<http://www.aaup.org/media-release/statement-case-steven-salaita> in
defense of Steven Salaita.
The next step ought to be for AAUP and other teachers' unions in the US
to follow in the footsteps of their sisters and brothers in Europe where
Europe's largest teacher's union --- the UK's National Union of Teachers
(NUT) --- voted for BDS
<http://www.bdsmovement.net/2014/europes-largest-teachers-union-endorses-israel-boycott-call-12039>.
BDS activists have taught us not to cross the picket line against
Israeli apartheid. It is time that similar picket lines appear against
campus elites who claim to speak in our name.
/Tithi Bhattacharya is a professor of South Asian History at Purdue
University, a long time activist for Palestinian justice and is on the
editorial board of the /International Socialist Review/./
/Bill V. Mullen is a professor of American Studies at Purdue University.
He is the author or editor of several books and is on the national
advisory board for the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott
of Israel (USACBI).
*******************************************************
/
Breaking News! Wise to Forward Salaita Appointment to Trustees! Updated
by Corey Robin on September 2, 2014
*http://crookedtimber.org/2014/09/02/33741/*
We are getting reports out of the University of Illinois that Chancellor
Wise is going to forward the Salaita appointment to the Board of
Trustees for a vote on September 11. A group of Gender and Women's
Studies students reports the following
<http://illinois.edu/lb/article/5198/87007>:
From GWS Undergraduate Stephanie Skora's report back on meeting with
Chancellor Wise on Monday, September 1, 2014:
The meeting with Chancellor Wise was a success, and we have gained some
valuable information and commitments from the Chancellor!
We have discovered that the Chancellor HAS FORWARDED Professor Salaita's
appointment to the Board of Trustees, and they will be voting on his
appointment during the Board of Trustees Meeting on September 11th, on
the UIUC campus! Our immediate future organizational efforts will focus
around speaking at, and appearing at, this Board of Trustees meeting. We
will be attempting to appear during the public comment section of the
Board of Trustees meeting, as well as secure a longer presentation to
educate them on the issues about which Professor Salaita tweeted.
Additionally, we are going to attempt to ensure that the Board of
Trustees consults with a cultural expert on Palestine, who can explain
and educate them about the issues and the context surrounding Professor
Salaita's tweets. It has been made clear to us that the politics of the
Board of Trustees is being allowed to dictate the course of the
University, and that the misinformation and personal views of the
members of the Board are being allowed to tell the students who is
allowed to teach us, regardless of who we say that we want as our
educators. We will not let this go unchallenged.
Additionally, Chancellor Wise has agreed to several parts of our
demands, and has agreed upon a timeline under which she will take steps
to address them. The ball is currently in her court, but we take her
agreements as a gesture of good faith and of an attempt to rebuild trust
between the University administration and the student body. She has not
agreed unilaterally to our demands, and but we have made an important
first step in our commitment to reinstating Professor Salaita. In terms
of his actual reinstatement, the power to make that decision is not
hers. This is why we have shifted the target of our efforts to the Board
of Trustees, because they alone have the power to reinstate and approve
Professor Salaita's appointment at the University. In regards to the
rest of our demands, which we have updated to reflect the town hall
meeting, we have made progress on all of those, but continue to
emphasize that it is unacceptable to meet any of our demands without
first reinstating Professor Salaita.
We have made progress, but we all have a LOT of work left to do. We must
organize, write to the Board of Trustees, and make our voices and our
presences known. We will not be silent on September 11th, and we will
not stop in our efforts to reinstate Professor Salaita, regardless of
what the Board of Trustees decides.
Please keep organizing, please keep making your voices heard, and
please?#?supportSalaita?
<https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/supportsalaita?source=feed_text&story_id=789552214455350>!
Assuming the report is accurate, I can think of two interpretations of
what it means.
If the UIUC is thinking politically, it would be an absolute disaster
for them to open this can of worms, to act as if Salaita's appointment
is now a real possibility, to raise expectations for two weeks or so, to
encourage all the organizing this will encourage (I can imagine the
phone calls and emails that will now start pouring into the Board of
Trustees), only to have the Board vote Salaita down. From a political
perspective, this would be a disaster for the university. The strongest
weapon the UIUC has always had is the sense that this is a done deal,
that they will not budge, that we can raise all the ruckus we want, but
they simply don't care. Opening the decision up again calls that into
question. Where does this line of reasoning lead us? To the possibility
that the UIUC Trustees will vote to appoint Salaita on September 11,
throw Chancellor Wise under the bus (remember, the Executive Committee
that upheld her decision is only comprised of three Trustees, not the
full Board)*, and say it was all a misunderstanding wrought by an
incompetent chancellor. Who'll then be pushed out within a year. The
advantage of this approach is that it will effectively bring this story
to a close. There will be angry donors, but everything I've ever read
and experienced about that crew suggests that their bark is often worse
than their bite. The ongoing atmosphere of crisis and ungovernability on
campus is not something any university leader can bear for too long, and
this threatens to go on for a very long time.
The other possibility is that the UIUC is thinking legally. One of the
many weak links in their legal case was that Wise never forwarded
Salaita's appointment to the Board of Trustees for a vote. She basically
did a pocket veto. Salaita's offer letter stated that his appointment
was subject to approval by the Board of Trustees, but Wise effectively
never allowed the Board to approve or disapprove. So the UIUC's lawyers
could have decided that the better thing to do would be simply to carry
out the full deed.
Many questions remain, not least of which is how accurate is this
report. Stay tuned. But assuming the report is true, we have to operate
on the assumption that the first interpretation is a very real
possibility and that we have a lot of work to do in the next ten days.
*John Wilson reminds me in this post
<http://academeblog.org/2014/09/01/update-on-the-salaita-case-and-a-sept-11-board-vote/>
that all the members of the Board did sign a letter supporting Wise's
position, which I had forgotten about.
*Update (11:15 pm)*
Just to clarify my blog post: Like all of us, I have no idea what Wise
and the Board are thinking (though we can assume that they are making
this decision together). But while I think we have to be as strategic
and smart about this as possible (fyi: John Wilson thinks I'm wrong
<http://academeblog.org/2014/09/01/update-on-the-salaita-case-and-a-sept-11-board-vote/>;
he may have a point), and gather as much information as we can, there's
always a tendency in these situations to play armchair strategist, to
try and read the tea leaves, to figure out the pattern of power, as if
we didn't have hand or a role in shaping that pattern of power.
Particularly when questions of law get involved (in a country of
lawyers, Louis Hartz reminded us, every philosophical question is turned
into a legal claim.) We have to resist that tendency. We have to treat
this announcement, assuming it's true, as a golden opportunity. To use
the next 10 days as a chance to shift the balance of power on the
ground. Remember the Board will be meeting and voting on campus. There
are students, faculty, and activists on and around that campus. That's
an opportunity. Remember these trustees are individuals who can be
called and emailed round the clock. That's an opportunity. Between now
and 9/11 (they really chose that date), let's be mindful of the
constraints, but also be thinking, always, in terms of opportunities.
--
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415
863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org
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