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<h1 class="title" id="page-title"><small><small><i><font
color="#ff0000">2 articles follow</font></i></small></small></h1>
<h1 class="title" id="page-title">Salaita firing shows where Zionism
meets neoliberalism at US universities</h1>
<div class="field-author">
<a href="http://electronicintifada.net/people/tithi-bhattacharya"
typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel"
datatype="">Tithi Bhattacharya</a> and </div>
<div class="field-author">
<a href="http://electronicintifada.net/people/bill-v-mullen"
typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel"
datatype="">Bill V. Mullen</a> </div>
<div class="field-publisher">
<b><small><small><small><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://electronicintifada.net/content/salaita-firing-shows-where-zionism-meets-neoliberalism-us-universities/13826">http://electronicintifada.net/content/salaita-firing-shows-where-zionism-meets-neoliberalism-us-universities/13826</a></small></small></small></b><br>
</div>
<div class="field-publication-date">
<span class="date-display-single" property="dc:date"
datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2014-09-02T08:00:00+00:00">2
September 2014</span> </div>
<div class="field-body">
<div id="file-28767" class="file file-image file-image-jpeg
media-element file-full" style="width:618px;"><br>
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<p>In the past ten months, the <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/university-illinois-urbana-champaign">University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign</a> (UIUC) administration has
done two things of note: rejected the <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/american-studies-association">American
Studies Association</a> (ASA) vote to boycott Israeli
universities and fired Arab-American boycott supporter <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/steven-salaita">Steven
Salaita</a>.</p>
<p>Six months ago, we asked in an essay “<a
href="http://mondoweiss.net/2014/02/american-elite-scared.html">Why
is the American elite scared of BDS?</a>” — the boycott,
divestment and sanctions movement.</p>
<p>In the case of UIUC, the answer is simple and clear: deep
political and financial ties between the university’s leadership
and Israel.</p>
<p>But it’s not just about Israel.</p>
<p>Our university administrators are deeply embedded in a second
project: that of corporate neoliberalism.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<h2>Conflict of interest</h2>
<p>Let us start with UIUC Chancellor <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/phyllis-wise">Phyllis
Wise</a>. Since 2009, Wise has <a
href="http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2012-09-17/wise-expects-stay-nike-board.html">served
on the governing board</a> of Nike Corporation.</p>
<p>In 2013, <a href="http://www.forbes.com/profile/phyllis-wise/">Wise
earned approximately $290,000</a> in annual salary and other
compensation for her services to Nike, on top of the <a
href="http://www.dailyillini.com/collection_92648e0a-2193-11e2-9e2e-001a4bcf6878.html?mode=nogs">more
than $500,000 in salary</a> she earns as UIUC chancellor.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>One of Nike’s suppliers, <a
href="http://www.whoprofits.org/company/delta-galil-industries">according
to</a> the research organization <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/who-profits">Who
Profits</a>, is Delta Galil Industries, a manufacturer of
textiles for undergarments.</p>
<p>Delta Galil operates in the <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/barkan-industrial-zone">Barkan
Industrial Zone</a>, an illegal Israeli settlement in the
occupied West Bank.</p>
<p>Delta Galil also has two shops operating in Israeli
settlements: <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/maaleh-adumim">Maaleh
Adumim</a> and Pisgat Zeev.</p>
<p>Companies like Victoria’s Secret have been investigated by Who
Profits for their business dealings with Delta Galil.</p>
<p>Who Profits has also named Nike as a company that receives
supplies from the West Bank manufacturer.</p>
<p>Phyllis Wise has said she opposed the ASA boycott resolution on
grounds of “<a href="http://illinois.edu/lb/article/1303/80478">academic
freedom</a>,” and that Steven Salaita’s political criticisms
of Israel <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/content/criticizing-israel-worse-murder-university-illinois/13801">were
not relevant to his firing</a>.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.”</p>
<h2>The Kennedy connection</h2>
<p>Now let’s look at UIUC Board of Trustees President Christopher
Kennedy, another <a
href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-salaita-ayers-backlash-20140829-story.html">vocal
critic</a> of Steven Salaita.</p>
<p>In 2009, Kennedy was appointed to the UIUC Board of Trustees by
Illinois Governor Pat Quinn.</p>
<p>Kennedy is on the Board of Trustees of Ariel Mutual Funds, part
of the Chicago-based Ariel Investments. Ariel Investments’
fortunes <a
href="http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20100515/ISSUE01/100033389/ariel-investments-logs-best-year-ever-reversing-painful-losing-streak">began
to soar in 2010</a> when it added new stocks, including DeVry
and Pfizer.</p>
<p>Both <a href="http://www.pfizer.co.il/default.aspx">Pfizer</a>
and <a
href="http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/730464/000095012311080434/c65966exv21.htm">DeVry</a>
operate extensively in Israel.</p>
<p>Kennedy also has some interesting friends and business
associates.</p>
<p>Kennedy, the son of the late <a
href="http://www.jfklibrary.org/JFK/The-Kennedy-Family/Robert-F-Kennedy.aspx">Senator
Robert F. Kennedy</a>, is the chairperson of Joseph Kennedy
Enterprises, a financial entity named after his grandfather.</p>
<p>One of the directors of Kennedy Enterprises is <a
href="http://www.samsonca.com/roy-j-zuckerberg/">Roy J.
Zuckerberg</a>.</p>
<p>When not acting as a director of Kennedy’s business empire,
Zuckerberg also serves as chairperson of the Board of Governors
of Israel’s <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/ben-gurion-university-negev-0">Ben-Gurion
University of the Negev</a>.</p>
<p>In 2009, Zuckerberg received an <a
href="http://www.aabgu.org/media-center/news-releases/bgu-confers-honorary-doctoral.html">honorary
doctorate</a> from Ben-Gurion University for his contributions
as a “generous philanthropist, an enthusiastic Zionist, a
concerned and influential member of the US Jewish community.”</p>
<p>The Negev — “<a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/negev-naqab">Naqab</a>”
to its native Palestinian Bedouin population — is of course a
desert and semi-arid region from which Israel has attempted to <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/prawer-plan">ethnically
cleanse tens of thousands</a> of Bedouins since 1948.</p>
<p>Israel has in fact long eyed the Negev for expanded Israeli
settlements.</p>
<h2>“Ardent supporter” of Israel</h2>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Zuckerberg serves as honorary chairman of Ben-Gurion
University’s <a href="http://w3.bgu.ac.il/ziwr/intro.htm">Zuckerberg
Institute for Water Research</a>, which conducts studies
ostensibly designed to improve the lives of inhabitants of
“drylands” like the Negev.</p>
<p>In July 2011, <a
href="http://www.wbez.org/story/governor-quinn-week-long-trip-israel-89378">Quinn
went to Israel</a> 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.</p>
<p>It should also be noted that Quinn’s trip to Israel in 2011 was
<a href="http://www.juf.org/news/israel.aspx?id=74719">supported
by the Jewish United Fund</a> (JUF) as “part of a JUF
initiative that, for the past two decades, has brought
influential leaders to Israel.”</p>
<p>On its <a
href="https://www.njdc.org/media/entry/patquinnfactsheet102810">own
website</a>, 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.”</p>
<p>The same website notes that prior to becoming governor, Quinn
worked to make sure Illinois state bonds were invested in
Israel.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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?</p>
<p>The answer is no.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<h2>Unionize and “de-Zionize”</h2>
<p>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.</p>
<p>When university policymakers consort with corporate profiteers,
the direction of investments and profits will naturally shape
university policy.</p>
<p>In this case, the University of Illinois shows us how the
“neoliberal” university allies itself with Zionism as a
settler-colonial project.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>The solution is to de-Zionize our campuses.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Would Phyllis Wise, faced with this union, have been able to
take her executive decision to fire Salaita?</p>
<p>The Salaita case shows us the necessary next step in our
struggle for him and for all of us.</p>
<p>The Association of American University Professors (AAUP) has
made a <a
href="http://www.aaup.org/media-release/statement-case-steven-salaita">strong
statement</a> in defense of Steven Salaita.</p>
<p>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) — <a
href="http://www.bdsmovement.net/2014/europes-largest-teachers-union-endorses-israel-boycott-call-12039">voted
for BDS</a>.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p><em>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 <em>International
Socialist Review</em>.</em></p>
<p><em>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).<br>
*******************************************************<br>
</em></p>
<div class="headline_area">
<h1 class="entry-title">Breaking News! Wise to Forward Salaita
Appointment to Trustees! Updated</h1>
<p class="author_and_date">by <span class="author">Corey Robin</span>
on <abbr class="published" title="2014-09-02">September 2,
2014<br>
<small><b><small>http://crookedtimber.org/2014/09/02/33741/</small></b></small><br>
</abbr></p>
</div>
<p>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
href="http://illinois.edu/lb/article/5198/87007">A group of
Gender and Women’s Studies students reports the following</a>:<br>
</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">From <span class="caps">GWS </span>Undergraduate
Stephanie Skora’s report back on meeting with Chancellor Wise on
Monday, September 1, 2014:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">The meeting with Chancellor Wise
was a success, and we have gained some valuable information and
commitments from the Chancellor!</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">We have discovered that the
Chancellor <span class="caps">HAS FORWARDED </span>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 <span class="caps">UIUC</span>
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.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">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.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">We have made progress, but we all
have a <span class="caps">LOT</span> 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.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Please keep organizing, please keep
making your voices heard, and please<a class="_58cn"
href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/supportsalaita?source=feed_text&story_id=789552214455350"><span
class="_58cl">#</span><span class="_58cm">supportSalaita</span></a>!</p>
Assuming the report is accurate, I can think of two
interpretations of what it means.
<p>If the <span class="caps">UIUC</span> 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 <span class="caps">UIUC</span>
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 <span class="caps">UIUC </span>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.</p>
<p>The other possibility is that the <span class="caps">UIUC</span>
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 <span
class="caps">UIUC</span>’s lawyers could have decided that the
better thing to do would be simply to carry out the full deed.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>*<a
href="http://academeblog.org/2014/09/01/update-on-the-salaita-case-and-a-sept-11-board-vote/">John
Wilson reminds me in this post</a> that all the members of the
Board did sign a letter supporting Wise’s position, which I had
forgotten about.</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Update (11:15
pm)</strong></span></p>
<p>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: <a
href="http://academeblog.org/2014/09/01/update-on-the-salaita-case-and-a-sept-11-board-vote/">John
Wilson thinks I’m wrong</a>; 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 ha<span class="text_exposed_show">nd 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.</span></p>
<p><br>
</p>
</div>
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