University of Illinois and Salaita reach settlement

Al Jazeera and Associated Press 21 November 2015

A professor who had his job offer rescinded over a series of tweets critical of Israel's 2014 bombardment of Gaza will receive US$600,000 plus legal costs under an agreement approved by University of Illinois trustees, report Al Jazeera and Associated Press.

The agreement settles Steven Salaita's lawsuit against the university, with the school admitting no wrongdoing, the university said. Salaita will not be rehired, and his legal claims against the university in federal and state courts will be voluntarily dismissed.

While Salaita said in a statement the settlement is “a vindication” for him and “a victory for academic freedom and the First Amendment", others disagree. Mark LeVine, professor of modern Middle Eastern history at the University of California, Irvine, views the settlement as a defeat for academic freedom. “Anti-Palestinian forces have once again silenced a voice and gotten away with it,” LeVine told Al Jazeera.
Full report on the Al Jazeera site

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