Hiring and Firing Bytes

Some professors at Texas Tech University have signed a petition objecting to the hiring of former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, The Public Record reports.

Carleton University, in Ottawa, has sacked Hassan Diab — a sociology professor accused of participating in the bombing of a Paris synagogue almost 30 years ago — a mere day after he was hired, citing concerns about a “stable, productive academic environment,” the Canadian Press reports.

A law professor from Singapore has nixed plans to teach at New York University this fall after her statements against homosexuality sparked an uproar on the campus, The Chronicle reports. The reporter, Peter Schmidt, writes:

Thio Li-ann, a professor at the National University of Singapore and a member of that country’s Parliament, had been scheduled to come to NYU’s law school as a visiting professor and teach a course on human rights in Asia and a seminar on constitutionalism there. Students and graduates began protesting her appointment, however, after it was learned that she has strongly opposed the repeal of a law criminalizing sex between men, had supported her government’s imposition of a fine on a Singaporean television station for depicting a gay couple and their child as a family unit, and had denounced homosexuality in several statements that many people found deeply offensive.

Charles R. Matthews, chancellor of the Texas State University system, announced last week that he will step down in February 2010. See a press release for details.