June 8, 2007

DePaul Rejects Tenure Bid by Finkelstein and Says Dershowitz Pressure Played No Role

Norman G. Finkelstein, the controversial political scientist who has been engaged in a highly public battle for tenure at DePaul University, learned today that he had lost that fight. In a written statement released to The Chronicle, the university confirmed that Mr. Finkelstein had been denied tenure.

Mr. Finkelstein’s department and a college-level personnel committee both voted in favor of tenure, but the dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences wrote a memorandum against it, and the University Board on Promotion and Tenure voted against granting tenure. The final decision rested with the university’s president, the Rev. Dennis Holtschneider, who said in the statement that he had found “no compelling reasons to overturn” the tenure board’s recommendation.

“I played by the rules, and it plainly wasn’t enough to overcome the political opposition to my speaking out on the Israel-Palestine conflict,” Mr. Finkelstein said in an interview. “This decision is not going to deter me from making statements that, so far as I can tell from the judgment of experts in the field, are sound and factually based.”

Mr. Finkelstein’s case has excited widespread interest, in part because of the involvement of Alan M. Dershowitz, a professor of law at Harvard University. The two scholars have sparred repeatedly in public. Last fall, Mr. Dershowitz sent members of DePaul’s law and political-science faculties what he described as “a dossier of Norman Finkelstein’s most egregious academic sins, and especially his outright lies, misquotations, and distortions.”

Informed of the news this evening, Mr. Dershowitz said, “It was the right decision, proving that DePaul University is indeed a first-rate university, not as Finkelstein characterized it, ‘a third-rate university.’ Based on objective standards of scholarship, this should not have even been a close case.”

In the DePaul statement, Father Holtschneider decried the outside interest the case had generated. “This attention was unwelcome and inappropriate and had no impact on either the process or the outcome of this case.” —Jennifer Howard

Update: See a Chronicle article with more details and reaction.

Comments

1. Finkelstein has more than met the requirements for tenure anywhere — including, especially and obviously, Harvard Law School. That DePaul’s President would acquiesce so shamefully, in disregard of minimal academic norms, warrants censure from the AAUP and similar organizations. This is a sad day for DePaul and for American universities generally.

   — Andrew Levine    Jun 8, 09:20 PM    #

2. I have taken three classes with Professor Finkelstein. He has, by far, impacted my collegiate career more than any other individual. Also, being an employee of DePaul University, both this year, and for the next two years in the School of Law, this decision cast a new light upon the University. A University whose mission is to protect the god given dignity of human life. DePaul proved today that its mission is false. Or, in fact, this decision proves that DePaul does not value the dignity of Palestinian lives.

   Either way, the administration will have to deal with the consequences of having a student body that is deeply hurt and greatly upset. I am embarrased to graduate from DePaul next Sunday. I feel betrayed that I dedicated all my time to building an organization that promoted the mission and values of the University. An organization that garnished unprecidented media attention for a University that does not deserve it.

   I hope this gives Mr. Dershowitz some temporary satisfaction, at least the entire world knows how ruthless he has become.

   — Elliot Slosar    Jun 8, 09:33 PM    #

3. Dershowitz has turned into a kind of Iago. The fight wasn’t so much about Finkelstein as much as it was about what Finkelstein exposed in Dershowitz. The reason why no institution has the spine to retain Finkelstein is the same reason why so few politicians have the spine to support the Palestinians—it just isn’t worth the consequences, despite the justness of the cause. This decision hurts DePaul’s reputation.

   — JCR    Jun 8, 10:05 PM    #

4. I am appalled by this decision, it has proven to be yet another blow to academia’s image in the United States. It is time for a new line of academic institutions that will not bow to the political and elite power in the country. I would encourage all those who see the same to consider a universal protest, and if necessary an exodus from places so influenced and compromised. We have a crisis of epic proportions regarding the integrity of higher education in the United States, this is one of many instances where this has become all to apparent.

   — V    Jun 9, 01:46 AM    #

5. Once again US academia has clearly shown that if it comes to a choice between truth and scholarship on the one hand and the demands of the Israeli Lobby on the other, truth has no chance. Just as Exeter(UK) University now enjoys the teaching of Ilan Pappe, perhaps a UK university concerned with truth and scholarship will offer tenure to Finkelstein. This is a very sad day for De Paul and US academia

   — chris leadbeater    Jun 9, 02:30 AM    #

6. This decision to deny Finkelstein tenure is an absolute disgrace.
   The president of DePaul bears primary responsibility. An alleged man of god and supposed proponent of Vincentian values, he has shown himself to be a coward who is unable to stand up to outside pressure brought on by a vindictive hack who has defended murderers and is a proponent of torture. The president surely is a man of flaky principles to say the least!
   The university committee seems to consist of mediocres and morally suspect individuals whose own scholarship pales in comparison to Finkelstein’s.
   Shame on you all!!
   What a sub-pathetic disgrace you are to an university.

   — Vishriver    Jun 9, 02:31 AM    #

7. “”“Finkelstein has more than met the requirements for tenure anywhere…”“”

   That is false. In fact Finkelstein has by his own admission never published in a refereed academic journal, which is a requirement for tenure at most universities.

   — Jonathan Mark    Jun 9, 02:36 AM    #

8. Can any of you Finkelstein supporters point to a piece of scholarship he has produced? Thought so.

   — Nate Borroughs    Jun 9, 03:35 AM    #

9. Father Holtschneider’s claim that oiutside pressure had no influence on this iniquitous decision adds insult to injury. What kind of fools does he take us for? Dershowitz, that master of defamation and distortion, has triumphed and De Paul has disgraced itself egregiously.

   — Dr Raymond Deane    Jun 9, 05:05 AM    #

10. Father Holtschneider may be Father, but his God is Alan Dershowitz. If Dershowitz speaks, Father Holtschneider listens. And obeys.

    — Bert Hinks    Jun 9, 05:49 AM    #

11. Reading this you’d think there’s not a single Palestinian supporter/critic of Israel in all of America Academia who has been granted tenure, let alone at DePaul. Finkelstein did this to himself with conduct more appropriate to a teenager’s online flamewar. And please, what exactly would have happened to DePaul if they had granted tenure — their vast Jewish alumni contributions would dry-up? Northwestern has a tenured professor who publishes Holocaust revisionism and they seem to be doing ok. Legions of popular professors whose scholarship isn’t up to snuff or whose antics are unbecomming don’t get tenure.

    — JH    Jun 9, 08:24 AM    #

12. That Finkelstein was even able to carry on this far, was a generous gesture by De Paul.

    Celebrated by neo-Nazis, radical terrorists and bigots of every stripe, Finkelstein has made a name for himself making a mockery both of scholarship and of the Holocaust. He was jusifiably Named the “Jewish David Irving” by notorious Nazi propagandist Ernst Zundel, for both his disgusting bigotry and fraudulent scholarship.

    — harry abrams    Jun 9, 10:48 AM    #

13. It’s extremely telling that the people who were closest to the academic studies recommended tenure, including the political science department itself. It was those at the administrative levels—those who are naturally more concerned with university politics—who chose to deny it.

    This is a shameful day for DePaul. Given Finkelstein’s assiduous scholarly debunking of pro-Israeli propaganda and the powerful enemies he’s accrued doing so, it’s certainly no surprise that they would reach a decision like this, but it’s extremely disappointing nonetheless. Many who were unfamiliar with DePaul previously will know it now as an institution where politics trumps academics.

    — John Caruso    Jun 9, 01:24 PM    #

14. Finkelstein is a racist. I wouldn’t put your name on a comment supporting him. I’m glad the President has more sense than some of you idiotic students.

    — G. Pile    Jun 9, 02:12 PM    #

15. The president of DePaul says that the outside pressure “had no impact on either the process or the outcome of this case.” I was born at night, but it was not last night. Does DePaul expect anybody older than 10 to believe their claim? Or maybe the president and other senior officers of the university are already so indoctrinated and willing to connive in a political firing that the outside pressure was superfluous.

    — Sanjoy Mahajan    Jun 9, 02:20 PM    #

16. Today Finkelstein, tomorrow Ward Churchill, Peter Kirstein, and Neve Gordon!! Drive the lunatic hate mongers from academia!

    — Jeff Gans    Jun 9, 02:32 PM    #

17. Well, it is now clear that anyone accepts a tenure track position at DePaul at their own risk. Better be prepared to shut up and not criticize any powerful figures. What a sad day for free inquiry.

    — Christian Haesemeyer    Jun 9, 03:36 PM    #

18. Very sad, and also pathetic. I guess old Dersh had been having contact with the DePaul people for three years.

    “It turns out that Professor Dershowitz was in correspondence with the ex-chairman of my department for 3 years. He was pushing. He had correspondence with the president, it turns out. I wasn’t aware of any of this, though, I felt it in my department. I felt it but I had no idea. And that’s how I thought it would work, it was going to be behind the scenes and then if I make any kind of protests it would be Finkelstein’s paranoia, you know, he’s imagining it. But this time there was nothing left to the imagination. It was all very forthright and it turned into a national hysteria. I didn’t expect that. And I didn’t expect the level of ugliness that it would reach.”
    http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/article.php?pg=11&ar=1067

    Finkelstein is an extremely decent guy and he did not deserve this. Shame on DePaul. Everyone knows what went down here and it was a pretty disgusting display of vilification and false charges from Dershowitz and his cohorts. The vilification is not surprising given the level of attacks against anyone who criticizes Israel, but the fact that people believed it or went along with it is. This should worry everyone who is for decency, truth, and fairness. Wake up people!

    — Matt C.    Jun 9, 03:45 PM    #

19. this is a shameful decision, transparently influenced by the ubiquitous and malign zionist lobby….....

    — Michael Thompson    Jun 9, 04:01 PM    #

20. The idea that Dershowitz or the “Jewish lobby” or “Israel lobby” is responsible for DePaul University’s decision smacks of, at best, conspiracy-minded thinking or, at worst, the superstitious canard that Jews somehow have mystical powers to control the school’s Tenure and Promotion Committee.

    Those who support Finkelstein politically go to wild lengths to blame others for the decision; but what about the simple explanation: The Committee deliberated, and decided that Finkelstein’s scholarship did not warrant tenure.

    — gilead    Jun 9, 05:08 PM    #

21. The chilling effect on academia as a result of this decision will support the US’ violent alliance with Israel against pan-Arabism and pan-Islamism. This academic travesty may lead to DePaul’s reputation as an academic institution that bowed to pressure to side with the prevailing political interests that are driving the US’ calamitous Middle East policy.

    — Benedict E. DeDominicis    Jun 9, 05:56 PM    #

22. This is a great victory for academic freedom. Finkelstein has debased scholarship over the years. He is petty, childish, and his writings do not meet minimum academic standards. Academic freedom should not be used as a front for bigotry.
    DePaul did the right thing in denying this poor excuse for a professor a platform to preach his hate. I am sure that he will be welcome to teach at the University of Tehran.

    gil stein
    aptos, ca

    — gil stein    Jun 9, 06:01 PM    #

23. I’ve never met anyone who quoted Alan Dershowitz in a positive matter but a newspaper owned by one of his friends. I know many scholars who check the scholarship and quote Finkelstein’s work because of its academic integrity as well as straight logic. It’s disturbing to say the least that some joker like Dershowitz can silence a good man like Norman Finkelstein.

    — James Neshewat    Jun 9, 06:17 PM    #

24. I agree that DePaul’s denial of tenure to Professor Finkelstein warrants censure from the AAUP and similar organizations. It’s hard to believe that Dershowitz, a man in favor of torture, would carry any weight with the President of DePaul. This is a shameful period for DePaul University.

    — Richard Burt    Jun 9, 06:52 PM    #

25. This is an utterly shameful decision. And it isn’t about either Norman Finkelstein or Dershowitz, our torture professor. Its about academic freedom.

    Finkelstein was not rejected for tenure, as is very clear, because of his scholarship but his political opinions. He offended the powers that be and in particular US foreign policy support, unquestioning as it is, for the Israeli State.

    What began with Iraq has now seeped further down the road as US academic institutions play safe and reject association with radicalism. DePaul obviously wasn’t big enough to live with someone who was both controversial and a fine academic. That a plagiarist and torture supporter, Alan Dershowitz, played a key role in this decision, and that much is clear, is even more to the shame of DePaul and its hapless President.

    — Tony Greenstein    Jun 9, 08:52 PM    #

26. The Finkelstein decision was about Finkelstein, not Dershowitz. But Finkelstein’s bloody-shirt polemics have certainly got his loyal followers barking up the same wrong tree, don’t they.

    — DG    Jun 9, 10:42 PM    #

27. The reason so few politicians support the Palestinians is that they violated all aspects of the Oslo accords, launched an illegal terrorist war against innocent civilians while they were supposedly negotiating a “peace process” in good faith, and hold the most dysfunctional, hate filled beliefs against Jews, Christians, the West, and more. On 9/11, I fondly remember the Palestinians celebrating in the street. Now the Palestinians are killing each other—-fitting.

    — JPL    Jun 10, 12:32 AM    #

28. Catholic cowards!They will never stand behind the Jews. Ever.

    — liberal white boy    Jun 10, 12:39 AM    #

29. Prof. Finkelstein should take some solace fr. this encomium by Raul Hilberg, dean of Holocaust historians:

    “I am impressed by the analytical abilities of Finkelstein. He is, when all is said and done, a highly trained political scientist who was given a PhD degree by a highly prestigious university. This should not be overlooked…

    However, leaving aside the question of style — and here, I agree that it’s not my style either — the substance of the matter is most important here, particularly because Finkelstein, when he published this book, was alone. It takes an enormous amount of academic courage to speak the truth when no one else is out there to support him. And so, I think that given this acuity of vision and analytical power, demonstrating that the Swiss banks did not owe the money, that even though survivors were beneficiaries of the funds that were distributed, they came, when all is said and done, from places that were not obligated to pay that money. That takes a great amount of courage in and of itself. So I would say that his place in the whole history of writing history is assured, and that those who in the end are proven right triumph, and he will be among those who will have triumphed, albeit, it so seems, at great cost.”

    Now, I hope there’s a top-tier university out there willing to buck the wrath of Big Al & hire Finkelstein.

    — Richard Silverstein    Jun 10, 03:32 AM    #

30. This is a shameful day for free thinkers and academic freedom alike. It only goes to show how far-reaching the dirty hands of politics really are and how hastily those DePaul decision-makers wish to withdraw from controversy. This should be headline news. Our country should be furious! May I suggest that the faculty who seem to have voted for Prof. Finkelstein take a stand in solidarity, submit a unanimous resignation, and offer their credentials to a university that will encourage freedom of thought and expression based on substantive arguments and evidence, not hollow slander.

    — Charlie Huntington    Jun 10, 03:45 AM    #

31. On the basis of the dossier available, I think that the refusal of tenure to Dr Finkelstein, a well known and outstanding scholar, is the result of political persecution by persons linked to the pro-israeli, anti palestinian lobby.
    It is a sad day for the supporters of freedom of ideas and their expression

    — Giorgio Forti    Jun 10, 05:10 AM    #

32. Looks like academic freedom is dead at DePaul.

    I don’t think they will ever be able to live down the consequences of this disgraceful action.

    As an academic, I would now never consider working there.

    Obviously, their tenure decisions are based on politics, not scholarship.

    Not a place for serious scholars…

    — KJ Foxman    Jun 10, 06:30 AM    #

33. As Galileo was too large for the Catholic Church of that time, Finkelstein is too large for DePaul, or most US universities.

    — Quentin Kirk    Jun 10, 09:15 AM    #

34. It is Dershowitz who fails to meet the most elementary academic standards. It is precisely because Finkelstein demonstrated this so conclusively in Beyond Chutzpah that Dershowitz has engaged in such an obsessive, vitriolic campaign of vilification against him. As is evidenced by his comments upon hearing of Finkelstein’s denial of tenure, Dershowitz cannot speak even a few sentences about Finkelstein without lying. The truth is that Finkelstein never characterized DePaul as a third-rate university. Rather, he observed that since Dershowitz cannot refute his arguments, he is determined to get them ignored by discrediting Finkelstein personally. As quoted in the Harvard Crimson, Finkelstein said, “I caused real damage to his reputation. I think that Dershowitz is desperate to discredit me to be able to say that this Finkelstein guy couldn’t even get tenure at a third-rate Catholic University, so how can we take him seriously?” Anyone who thinks that Finkelstein did not prove Dershowitz’s plagiarism has not read the two-column juxtaposed comparison in Beyond Chutzpah of Dershowitz’s arguments with those of Joan Peters. A direct comparison of The Case for Israel with From Time Immemorial erases all doubt. The first two chapters of the former are nothing but an abridged version of the latter, without attribution. Moreover, it is clear Dershowitz did not check and independently verify the original sources cited in Peters, because Dershowitz repeats all the errors, idiosyncrasies, and typos that occur in Peters’ citations. Dershowitz has never addressed this issue in a specific and direct way. Typically, Dershowitz’s diatribe in The New Republic contains numerous prevarications about both Chomsky and Finkelstein. A partial list:
    1.) Finkelstein’s scholarship has been lauded or respectfully cited by a wide array of international scholars, such as Yehoshua Porath, Avi Schlaim, Albert Hourani, Raul Hilberg, Arno Mayer, Christopher Browning, Ian Kershaw, Baruch Kimmerling, Sara Roy, and Daniel Boyarin. It was also deemed worthy of tenure by both his departmental colleagues at DePaul and his tenure review committee, as well as two outside experts.
    Hence, it is irrelevant whether he has published in peer-reviewed journals. Dershowitz is hypocritically applying to Finkelstein a standard he applies to no one else———that only articles published in peer-reviewed journals can qualify as “scholarship.”

    2.) Dershowitz is not merely defending himself in print; he is intruding himself into Finkelstein’s tenure proceedings in an attempt to have Finkelstein’s tenure denied. Even scholars somewhat critical of Finkelstein, such as Peter Novick, have excoriated such intrusion as improper. Moreover, in terms of volume, Dershowitz’s letter-writing campaign against Finkelstein’s tenure dwarfs Chomsky’s previous activism against Columbia’s appointment of Henry Kissinger.

    3.) When was the last time Dershowitz took such an all-consuming interest in the scholarly qualifications of one of DePaul’s tenure candidates? Clearly in opposing Finkelstein’s tenure, Dershowitz is actuated by much more than simply the dispassionate solicitude for the quality of DePaul’s faculty that he professes. Moreover, Dershowitz initiated contact with DePaul with regard to Finkelstein’s tenure; it was only in response to Dershowitz’s first contact that DePaul requested documentation of his charges. Dershowitz’s constant, careful omission of this fact is intentionally misleading.

    4.) Chomsky has never extolled either the masturbation cartoon or Finkelstein’s alleged recent oral comments as examples of his scholarship. So the cartoon and the alleged comments are not “what passes for scholarship on Planet Chomsky.” Moreover, Dershowitz is again hypocritically applying a double-standard, since he usually does not maintain that tenure decisions should be based on cartoons and oral comments.

    5.) Chomsky’s writings prove conclusively that he regards the Holocaust as a historical fact (i.e., he regards it as a historical fact that under Hitler the Germans undertook a genocidal program to annihilate Europe’s Jews and murdered millions in the implementation of this program). Instead of referring to Chomsky’s writings, Dershowitz presents anecdotal hearsay as evidence of his views. Does he also prefer such evidence in the courtroom? It is precisely because Chomsky regards the Holocaust as an issue of historical fact, not a sacred and unquestionable religious dogma, that he defends Holocaust denial as non-anti-Semitic. In Chomsky’s view, there are no factual issues that have sacred and unquestionable answers, which it is evil bigotry to dispute or challenge.

    6.) Dershowitz challenges Chomsky to cite the specific pages in Finkelstein’s writings that merit the granting of tenure. Why doesn’t he ask for the specific words or letters of the alphabet? Finkelstein’s whole books are examples of his superb erudition, according to the experts cited above.

    7.) Dershowitz’s division of human rights organizations into those that are “pro-Israel” and those that are “anti-Israel” is highly misleading. The only pro-Israel “human rights” organizations would seem to be the Anti-Defamation League and others that operate officially under Jewish auspices. The “anti-Israel” human rights groups, on the other hand, are not all Palestinian or Arab or Muslim organizations; instead they include Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and even some Israeli organizations, such as B’Tselem.
    In giving equal weight to the two———or, even worse, in dismissing all the “anti-Israel” human rights groups (including the Israeli ones) as “anti-Semitic” or bigoted (as he usually does)———Dershowitz is again hypocritically applying a standard that he applies to no other country. For example, if Italy’s human rights record were severely criticized by a multitude of international human rights organizations and even some Italian groups, but praised only by a few Italian organizations, Dershowitz would not conclude that all of the former are inspired by anti-Italian bigotry but the latter are free from any possible chauvinist prejudice.

    This list could be continued almost indefinitely.

    — MFW    Jun 10, 09:15 AM    #

35. The entire departments of history, philosophy & literature ought to resign in solidarity. This brazen & cowardly caving in to political pressure is a brutal blow to free inquiry, freedom of speech and the role of the university in society.

    — Michael O'Neill    Jun 10, 09:37 AM    #

36. Catholics have not shown this sort of cowardice since the Pope ignored the holocaust in world war II

    — liberal white boy    Jun 10, 12:27 PM    #

37. This is a shameful day in the history of American higher education. Norman Finkelstein’s courageous defense of the truth has cost him his career. How can we possibly lecture Iran, Syria, or any other Muslim country about freedom of speech?

    — Zaynab Ansari    Jun 10, 12:48 PM    #

38. Look at what Dershowitz is doing now. He’s making threats of civil suits against British intellectuals calling for a boycott of Israel. The House of Representives is making similiar threats. What more do you people need to make the connection? Any Israel critics are now fair game. Just because a few have not been attacked does not mean they will not be later. They will not stand a Finkelstein in any way, shape or form. To call those, who dare to disagree, a NAZI or RACIST is just another form of outright censorship, albeit a clever one. When will people wake up to these insidous methods? They want to silence any discourse and have been silencing any discourse. It’s plainly obvious. We must fight back, NOW!

    — Phil J    Jun 10, 12:57 PM    #

39. In my opinion both Finkelstein and Dershowitz, TOGETHER, represent the low point of the Israel dispute. They are both petty and childish. I don’t doubt for a minute that if Finkelstein had friends in high places and Dershowitz was up for tenure he would have done the same thing. Dershowitz just beat him to it. I’ve read work from both and they each represent the extremes. Neither of them are doing anything credit worthy with their scholarship.They both suck, neither should be tenured.

    — Alex    Jun 10, 01:53 PM    #

40. What an absolute outrage!!

    The Jewish pressure groups have repeatedly shown that they place pursuing their narrow, ethnicity-based agenda much above any sense of justice or academic freedeom. Finkelstein is a first-rate researcher and a courageous man in a sea of blubber. We should all support Finkelstein!

    — Jeff Goldman    Jun 10, 02:00 PM    #

41. I’m really fascinated by the crap posted here by Finkelstein’s knee-jerk supporters.

    If he deserved tenure as a scholar, where’s his scholarship? Has he published his screed in peer-reviewed publications? He hasn’t, because he can’t. Peer review would expose his lies.

    And why shouldn’t Dershowitz attack a liar who attacked HIM? Is there anyone who still believes that Dershowitz didn’t write his own books as Finkelstein claims? Dershowitz writes his manuscripts in longhand on legal pads. He has all of them.

    And to Elliot Slosar, who claims to have “taken three classes” with Finkelstein: Of course you liked his “classes” — you agree with his racist dogma. Finkelstein’s racist course material is no longer secret. His students are cherry-picked, and your support of Finkelstein says more about you than it does about him.

    Academic freedom means not only the freedom to say what you believe, but also the obligation to defend your views according to established rules. This, Finkelstein has never done.

    Let him continue to publish his lies in left wing and neo-nazi political journals. There is no reason why this malicious narcissist, this classic Freudian nutcase, should be given the title of “professor.”

    — Scott Adler    Jun 10, 04:24 PM    #

42. Finkelstein didn’t help his case in his latest Sun Tribune interview:
    “As it happens, I was just this past week teaching about Paul Robeson in my political science class. When Robeson was crucified for his beliefs, he said, ‘I will not retreat one-thousandth part of one inch.’ That’s what I say to the thugs and hoodlums who are trying to silence me. They don’t want to talk about what Israel is doing to the Palestinians. So they make Norman Finkelstein the issue.”

    Isn’t his poison tongue directed at any of his critics just exactly the issue that was raised by Father Holtschneider? Is it possible that some people who disagree with his view or more importantly, his tactics, are other than “thugs and hoodlums”? Why does he keep using epithets such as “imbecile” to people who ask inconvenient questions or resort to falsehoods about people such as Phyllis Chesler, so he can call her “ a complete embarrassment” “imbecile” “idiot” or “lunatic”? What does such name calling have to do with scholarship? And why did he post this on his website last October 9: “Isn’t it time to send over Hitchens, George Packer, Tom Friedman, Paul Berman and all the rest of those top guns in the rear? Personally, I hope they end up among the dead, but if it has to be among the wounded, let’s hope all their limbs (and tongues) will be amputated.”? I’d also like to ask all these people who are claiming that De Paul’s decision in this regard is trampling on academic freedom whether they communicated similar views when the same university fired Tom Klocek because his private remarks angered some Palestinian or Arab students. But frankly, we all know that while academic inquiry is protected, slander is not. Many universities have codes of conduct that sanction members of their communities who engage in slander. You can have your own opinion of Alan Dershowitz, both on the scholarly or personal level, but to state publicly that Dershowitz is not the author of his own books – is that not slander? Has Finkelstein been able to back up that accusation? And when Dershowitz was honored recently by the Albany Law School, why did Finkelstein refer to him as the whore madame Xavier Hollander? Is this the kind of free speech that needs support?
    One of his admirers in the human rights field wrote to me some time ago that “Norm undermines himself and his cause with the language he uses, and his anger sometimes gets the better of him and his brilliant mind and generous spirit.” This person is a strong admirer of Finkelstein, but is someone who also realizes that his verbal overkill does him more harm than good.

    The reference to Paul Robeson also deserves a response. Robeson is revered by many people in this country for his undeniable accomplishments as an actor, singer, and a civil rights crusader. But Robeson had another side: an unrepentant apologist for Stalin and Stalinism. As Jonathan Tobin wrote several years ago:

    http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/tobin041398.html

    “Though he had been cleaned up and dressed in a suit, [Russian Jewish poet Itzik] Feffer’s fingernails had been torn out. Though he couldn’t speak openly, Robeson later told his son that the poet indicated by gestures and a few handwritten words that [Russian Jewish theater director Solmon] Mikhoels had been murdered on the orders of Stalin and that the other Jewish prisoners were being prepared for the same fate. After the two friends said goodbye, Feffer was taken back to the Lubyanka (the same place where Natan Sharansky and other refuseniks would be imprisoned decades later). He would never be seen alive again.
    Unlike others in the know, Robeson had nothing to fear from the KGB if he spoke out. He could always go home to the U.S. and then speak out. But instead, he continued to lie on behalf of Stalin. The same year he was publicly telling Americans there was no such thing as anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union!
    Why this hypocrisy? Robeson made his son vow not to make the story public until well after his death, “because he had promised himself that the would never publicly criticize the USSR.” Robeson never apologized or repented for his silence. Although he was a great singer, he was also a slave to an evil ideology that sanctioned such lies. It seems to me that this part of his character ought not to be ignored by those who celebrate him today. Robeson’s moral blindness to the oppression of others ought to be remembered just as much as the injustices done to him because of his race. Being a victim yourself doesn’t mean you have the right to allow others to suffer.”

    When Stalin died, Robeson penned an obsequious peon “To the Beloved Comrade” that he never repudiated, even long after the CPSU denounced Stalin as a murderous tyrant responsible for the deaths of millions:
    The fight will go on – the fight will still go on.
    Sleep well, Beloved Comrade, our work will just begin.
    The fight will go on – till we win – until we win.
    http://katardat.org/Stalin/EN/text/documents/paulrobeson1953.html

    The point of all of this is that people should not stick blindly to their views when new information comes to change those views. Praising people for “not budging a thousandth of an inch” from their views is not something that should be taught to students. That’s the difference between scholarship and propaganda.

    — ph    Jun 10, 06:13 PM    #

43. Dershowitz is the Great Inquisitor of American Zionism. Take care critics of Israel, especially if you are Jewish!

    — Enrique Ferro    Jun 10, 06:35 PM    #

44. ch,

    Obviously, “budging a thousandth of an inch” for Finkelstein means abandoning the Palestinians. He is an advocate for a people who are the accursed of the earth, people beseiged by the world’s greatest military-industrial complex.

    Let’s face it. The political climate today regarding the ME is poisonous. The democratic candidates feel the need to get in front of AIPAC and vow to use nukes against Iran. As Finkelstein said in a recent interview, there is only one country on earth that wants the US to war with Iran: Israel (~70%). He condemns a country with an egregious human rights record. Hardly a condemnable idea!

    — JCR    Jun 10, 08:02 PM    #

45. I find these comments defending Finkelstein ludicrously humorous to the point of just plain insane. Finkelstein and his supporters equate to the Jews intellectual and financial prowess of such magnitude that this minute segment of the population controls the most powerful nations on earth bending them to their will much as a god would.

    Now realistically speaking if the Jews had even a fraction, in terms Finkelstein himself might choose to employee, even a thousandth of intellectual and financial prowess Finkelstein and his supporters equate to them then the Jews are in fact everyone else’s superiors.

    In which case taking them on and attempting to remove from ones neck the yoke of their rule would be to defy the rules of evolution. It would be akin to Satan’s attempted usurping of God, utterly doomed to failure. The notion of rebellion strictly for the sake of rebellion in a case that is utterly futile is one of actively seeking to win a Darwin Award.

    Those seeking to glorify or justify Finkelstein have proven themselves worthy of the intellectual equivalent of a Darwin Award. Needless to say anyone who has achieved a Darwin Award of any sort should be given any credence regarding the subject matter for which they received their Award.

    — doriangrey    Jun 10, 09:38 PM    #

46. everyone who values the honorable Professor Finkelstein should have signed this petition.

    http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?nf200704

    we definitely need to voice our thoughts and concerns. So that we don’t leave the stage open for haters who just make up claims like DePauls’s god Dershowitz. Speak up peoples!
    email this father and all people who had a say and tell them what you think.

    — name    Jun 10, 10:41 PM    #

47. Will not one of Finkelstein’s ardent supporters address the facts of his shoddy scholarship? Or perhaps one of the chanters of the tired cliches about ‘the zionist lobby’ or ‘Jewish pressure groups’ could explain Tom Klocek’s dismissal? There are numerous ‘pro-Palestinian’ professors nationwide who have received tenure, in spite of so-called Zionist groups.

    And what exactly is wrong with Dershowitz writing to De Paul regarding Finkelstein’s credentials? Surely you agree that any American citizen has the right to voice their opinions?
    Very discouraging indeed that so many in this thread are proving that many American academics are simply overeducated idiots.

    — J Kellor    Jun 10, 11:05 PM    #

48. So how much did Finkelstein pay the 40 of you to post support emails for him? Finkelstein has apparetnly sold lies to college students (young, moldible—or should I say moldy- minds) who have obviously bought into the lies. That is the danger of a person like him. No wonder the university is getting rid of him…..

    — lillypearl    Jun 10, 11:40 PM    #

49. oh no… not the evil Jooooooooos again! Damn they are sneaky, no wonder Hitler hated them so! I’m sure life everywhere would be so much better under Hamas/Islamofascist rule. Since you all are not smart enough to see it, I“m going where I am appreciated. What was that URL again?... oh yea, www.dailykos.com… yea that’s it, they ‘get it’.

    — Joe    Jun 11, 12:32 AM    #

50. Conservative Media – 1
    Left Wing Colleges – 0

    — Nada    Jun 11, 12:42 AM    #

51. Saint Vincent de Paul was a man whose selflessness has inspired the creation of societies dedicated to helping others. How ironic that the university which carries his name has acted so self-interestedly.

    Saint Vincent was also a Catholic who made principled stands with Protestants when he felt that the Catholic Church was treating them unfairly. He wrote, “There is a wide difference between being a Catholic and an honest man.” Vincent was not afraid to criticize his “tribe,” and the parallels with Finkelstein are clear.

    Moreover, Saint Vincent’s marginalization and final disenfrancisement by the powerful, political Cardinal Mazarin has similar overtones as well. What would Saint Francis say about the Jew who refused to shut up?

    — Jack E    Jun 11, 01:04 AM    #

52. DePaul’s rejection of Dr. Finkelstein’s tenure bid is morally and politically reprehensible. The shameful cowardice of its top officials will not go unnoticed here and abroad.

    — R Niemi    Jun 11, 01:15 AM    #

53. Give tenure Lose donations, have Jewish groups pursue donors to De Paul and institute boycotts on them, Dogging the institutes studies,ad infinitum, go after the students to force enrollment down, finally cost of intellectual integrity Priceless on this date a mans free thoughts where deemed too high a price WE WILL ALL SUFFER FOR THIS

    — Eric Meiers    Jun 11, 01:27 AM    #

54. Response to 7.) and 8.) and 22.) and 47.):
    See 34.) above, #1.

    Response to 12.):
    See 34.) above, #1. Also: what some neo-Nazi might think of someone is completely irrelevant. Hitler may have spoken approvingly of Darwin or Beethoven; this does not discredit Darwin or Beethoven, any more than it invalidates a scientist’s work if Hitler used it.

    Response to 14.):
    A racist is someone who discriminates on the basis of race. Finkelstein is the antithesis of a racist; he is always extremely assiduous in drawing analogies and applying the exact same standards to all groups. For example, Finkelstein challenges the view that it is necessarily anti-Semitic racism or bigotry to believe that Jews “have too much power,” by asking whether it is necessarily racist to think that, relative to other races, “whites have too much power.” Finkelstein’s position is that one attitude is prima facie racist if and only if the other is. This is typical of Finkelstein’s reasoning; since he scrupulously applies the same criteria to all groups, he is the antithesis of a racist.
    However, he does believe that in some conflicts or interactions, some groups are morally in the right and others are morally in the wrong. Since his judgments are based on the actions rather than the races of the participants, this is hardly racist. It is not racism to hold that Europeans (i.e., whites) were in the wrong in seizing the land of Native Americans or in enslaving Africans (i.e., blacks). Nor is it necessarily racism to hold that Israel is in the wrong in its conflict with Palestinians, i.e., that Israel’s actions are wrong.
    So I ask, how has Finkelstein ever applied different or discriminatory standards or criteria to different ethnic groups? I have never seen it. That he focuses on the Middle-East rather than some other area of the world is not racist; no one can focus equally on all areas of the world equally at all times; not everyone who writes about the Holocaust devotes proportionally long tomes to Stalin’s atrocities, and Mao’s, and all others perpetrated by humans.

    Response to 16.):
    Finkelstein obviously hates lies, injustice, racism, and oppression. In short, he hates wrong or evil actions, but nothing else.

    Response to 20.):
    See 13.) above. When was the last time the administrative brass overruled the department, the tenure-review committee, and two outside experts?

    Response to 45.)
    First, Finkelstein does not assert that Jews control American foreign policy, let alone the world; he agrees with Chomsky that American elites, both Jewish and non-Jewish (rather than the “Jewish lobby”), control American foreign policy. The “Jewish lobby” does have great and pernicious influence in America, however, in stifling discussion and in suppressing and distorting information with regard to Middle Eastern politics.
    Second, it is a fact that some American Jews (as Finkelstein would say, “American Jewish elites”) have attained tremendous success.
    Third, although such success could possibly have a genetic or “Darwinian” causal component, it doesn’t necessarily have one, especially when one is speaking of group-power. For example, the Romans (inhabitants of a small city-state) dominated the Mediterranean for centuries, but we don’t deduce that they were superior in a Darwinian sense. Hitler and Stalin (and their followers) dominated their respective countries, but it doesn’t follow they were superior in evolutionary terms.

    — MFW    Jun 11, 01:57 AM    #

55. De Paul’s decision was very much influenced if not dictated by Dershowitz. De Paul does not deserve Professor Finkelstein, I feel sorry for their students. Very disgusting.

    — Ziyad zaitoun    Jun 11, 02:53 AM    #

56. J. Kellor,

    You mention Finkelstein’s “shoddy scholarship” as if he is some bum who is not respected by his peers. Since you want to make request’s of Finkelstein’s supporters, how about you qualify your statement with some credible source? In and of itself, there is nothing wrong with Dershowitz’s expressing his opinions regarding Finkelstein’s quest for tenure. The problem, sir or madam, is that people are very tired of seeing the politics of polarization seep into every aspect of human endeavor. When are we going to reach a level of emotional and mental sophistication that allows us to disagree as individuals without having to characterize the other’s opinion as an extreme view that cannot be tolerated?

    — Sonjay Gregorie    Jun 11, 03:15 AM    #

57. There are a lot well written comments above in favor of finkelstein. However, there is profound ignorance of history and current events. And a desire to impose injustice and suffering on Jews.
    1) The US Govt —particularly the State Dept and CIA— have always been anti-Israel,despite claims above, although Congress, closer to the people, a more democratic body, has been more favorable to Israel. Pres. Bush is hostile to Israel, the first president to advocate a state for an invented “palestinian people.” Likewise, Bush demonstrates his pro-Muslim agenda by advocating independence for the Kosovo Albanians who ethnically cleansed Serbs from Kosovo with NATO collaboration.
    2) the notion of a “palestinian people” did not exist in 1900, least of all among Arabs who did not call the country “palestine” or “filastin,” nor did they view it as a separate, distinct country. The “palestinian people” notion is an invention of Western psychological warfare experts, mainly British. Bear in mind that the UK was a silent partner in the Holocaust.
    3) the Arab nationalist movement was pro-Nazi. Consider the roles of Sadat & Nasser. The chief leader of the Palestinian Arabs at the time, the British-appointed mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin el-Husseini, spent most of the war years in the Nazi-fascist domain and collaborated with the Germans in the Holocaust.
    4) Husseini and other Arab nationalists petitioned Hitler to extend the Holocaust to Arab lands. Indeed, Jews were sent to labor camps [and some were killed] in Libya and Tunisian. In Iraq, Jews were massacred by Arabs under German inspiration and Husseini’s encouragement.
    Hence, the thesis propagated by finkelstein & others that somehow Zionists unfairly oppressed innocent Arabs is a fraud.

    — Jack Schwartz    Jun 11, 03:44 AM    #

58. #43 Enrique Ferro writes, “Take care critics of Israel, especially if you are Jewish!”

    Yeah, the Capos should take care to wash their mouths out with soap, take their meds, and most important, keep a civil tongue in their stupid heads.

    — Scott Adler    Jun 11, 04:33 AM    #

59. The guy could write a half-page article in blue crayon, and it would be hailed by his supporters as the most important scholarly work of the decade. So long as homage is paid to the thesis that Israel represents the modern day incarnation of Nazism, academics who otherwise play fast and loose with facts will be lionized by the ivory towered bigots, ignoramuses, and anti-semites.

    — mjs    Jun 11, 06:51 AM    #

60. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6595846710992512471
    This is a link to a BBC documentary regarding the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty intelligence ship in 1967. This is my response to the comments deriding the influence of Zionist organizations on our print and television media. jmk

    — Joseph    Jun 11, 10:36 AM    #

61. Arthur Koestler wrote the book: Thieves in the Night . I beleive
    the novel was about the Zionist
    conquest of Palestine. Arthur Koestler was Jewish . Is it possible for a Jew to be a freethinker and not be called an anti-semite by rabid zionists ? jmk

    — Joseph    Jun 11, 11:04 AM    #

62. I have followed this case closely and I am absolutely enraged by this final decision. Norman Finkelstein is a brilliant scholar and a courageous activist. What this poor man has had to endure due to Zionist thugs is unbelievable. Attack dog Dershowitz: are you happy that you got your way and have bullied DePaul into following your lies? This decision will make waves all over the world. If DePaul thinks this matter is simply over, they are mistaken. To everyone who supports Dr. Finkelstein: write to these administrators and let them know they have spat in the face of democracy. We must continue to fight for Norman and fight for the Palestinian people. Stop the Zionazi thugs!

    — Joelle Ruby Ryan    Jun 11, 11:05 AM    #

63. British academics that have recently called for a boycott of their Israeli counterparts have shown more spine than the weasel at De Paul.

    — Mannstein    Jun 11, 11:07 AM    #

64. Students protesting the denial of Norman Finkelstein’s and Mehrene Larudee’s tenure. Sitting-in at DePaul President Holtschneider’s office. Demanding tenure for Norman Finkelstein and Mehrene Larudee.
    Students arrived this morning at DePaul President Dennis Holtschneider’s office to protest the denial of tenure to Dr. Norman Finkelstein, the controversial scholar of Middle East politics, and Dr. Mehrene Larudee, the Departmental Chair of International Studies at DePaul. Both of these decisions were clearly politically motivated. Dr. Larudee’s tenure denial appears to be entirely due to her visible support for Professor Finkelstein.
    When the students entered the offices, they were met by Bob Wachowski, the head of Public Safety at the university. Though students attempted to keep the planning of the sit-in relatively private, this suggests that the University was somehow informed of the students’ plans before their arrival.
    They were ushered in to the Executive Conference room and have been awaiting a meeting with Fr. Holtschneider. His arrival is expected before 3 pm, when he has a meeting planned to discuss a law suit against the university for racial discrimination in the library.
    Updates should be posted, throughout the day.

    — Scribbler    Jun 11, 11:28 AM    #

65. Someone asked where NF’s peer-reviewed publications were. Here’s a few: http://refworks.com/refshare?site=034421146466800000/RWWS1A1086581/Last%20Imported

    — David McCullough    Jun 11, 01:17 PM    #

66. David: The only article that appears to be his is #10, in the Journal of Palestine Studies. Norman H. is also a noted author but a completely different person with a very different focus and viewpoint. I leave to others to determine whether the Journal tries to encompass all viewpoints on the Arab-Israeli issue. NGF has a more recent article in the same journal that you missed that deconstructs Ross’s “The Missing Peace.”

    http://www.palestine-studies.org/final/en/journals/content.php?aid=7317&jid=1&iid=142&vid=XXXVI&vol=203

    — ph    Jun 11, 02:24 PM    #

67. It used to be that if you were prejudiced against Jews, you were (rightly) labeled an anti-semite.

    Nowadays if Dershowitz and his gang of ultra-nationalist racist inquisitors don’t like you, you are called an anti-semite, even if you’re Jewish (your label now will be a “self-hating Jew”).

    What a sad day for academic freedom in the US. And we have the gall to preach freedom to the rest of the world.

    — A    Jun 11, 03:13 PM    #

68. Enough nonsense about publication. Finkelstein has four books and one co-authored book. The publishers are: Verso, Norton, U of Minnesota, and U of California. For the academic opponents of F.—how many of you are as productive?

    — JCR    Jun 11, 03:25 PM    #

69. Its all good news, it always is! Whether Finkelstein gets tenure or not, the truth still marches forward because the truth has already triumphed. There was no holocaust.

    — Phineas    Jun 11, 04:10 PM    #

70. Did you notice that the language that was used by the President of DePaul University to deny tenure to Norman Finkelstein was the same language used by Alan Dershowitz?

    http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/pdf/tenuredenial/Finkelstein,Norman06.08.2007.pdf

    — A    Jun 11, 05:44 PM    #

71. While Dershowitz is undoubtedly not “objective” on the question of whether or not Finkelstein ought to get tenure, there have been plenty of academics, including no less a figure than Jacques Derrida, who have questioned whether impartiality is really the last word in determining what is ethical. Chief Rabbi of England Jonathan Sacks has framed the matter thusly: any universality that would demand the destruction of the Jewish people is a false universality. An earlier remark in this discussion took note of the vituperative language used by Finkelstein in characterizing his opponents, and while I am uncomfortable about the idea of policing campus speech, as an organization like Daniel Pipes’ Campus Watch seems to do, I also can’t condone the kind of irresponsibility that puts one’s own unexamined political preferences over the well-being of others, to whom one may very well be related. (Finkelstein’s parents, who are Holocaust survivors, live in the States, but can he really doubt that there must be blood-relatives of his living in the State of Israel?) Alain Finkielkraut, in France, has pointed out that the paradox of the Holocaust is that the Jews, who were the victims of nationalism in Europe run amok, are now, as the survivors of the Holocaust and their descendants, the victims of an implacable European desire to atone for the past by wiping any traces of nationalism off the face of the earth. This, I think, is the root of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and not the perceived evil of the Jewish state.

    — Brad R    Jun 11, 06:52 PM    #

72. Mr. Finkelstein is obviously profoundly revered by all right-thinking people of many religious persuasions….......a small light in this dark, careless world….........

    — Michael Thompson    Jun 11, 07:53 PM    #

73. Alan Dershowitz continuously states that Prof. Finkelstein has lied, distorted, and misquoted
    him. Prof. Finkelstein has publicly stated that Dershowitz plagarized Joan Peters. Why does not Dershowitz sue prof. Finkelstein for libel ? The courtroom would be the proper venue for determining
    who is lying. jmk

    — Joseph    Jun 12, 03:20 AM    #

74. Alan Dershowitz has repeatedly refuted the claims of plagiarizm, so has both the head of library at Harvard and the leader of the american university library organization. The publisher of Finkelstein’s book even removed the allegation from later editions. There is no doubt that the allegations are wrong. Finkelstein has no credibility, escpecially not when it comes to Holocaust history and the middle east. He has low academic standards and this is a reasonable and just decision.

    — Cain Admasson    Jun 12, 11:12 AM    #

75. The issue at hand is not Finkelstein’s views on Palestine. Many academics that are anti-Israel (including, as mentioned above, a Holocaust revisionist) are given tenure. The issue is Finkelstein’s inability to keep a debate within the realm of academia. Look up his article about how Alan Dershowitz should target himself for assassination. Look up the cartoon he had commissioned by a Nazi propagandist of Dershowitz masturbating to dead Arabs.
    When Dershowitz disagrees, he sends articles and analysis. When Finkelstein disagrees, he resorts to ad-homs and immaturity. That type of behavior, no matter how great the scholarship, does not deserve tenure anywhere.

    — Liz    Jun 12, 02:05 PM    #

76. response to 74. and 75.

    Alan Dershowitz has denied, not refuted the claims of plagarizm . Please refer to the debate between Dershowitz and Finkelstein on Democracy Now with Amy Goodman. Please read or listen to the discussion on Democracy Now between Finkelstein and the former Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami . Finkelstein has credibility !

    When Finkelstein disagrees, He documents his arguments with primary sources : i.e. Beyond Chutzpah . The discussion between Finklestein and Ben-Ami is evidence enough that Joan Peter’s thesis upon which Dershowitz so heavily relied is suspect. Please read the transcript on the Democracy Now website. Prof. Finkelstein commissioning a cartoonist and writing an article encouraging Dershowitz to target himself for assassination ? Please provide the link to the primary source. Please do not provide a link to a source who says that : yes this is true” . I am asking for the names, dates , and the articel itself. Joseph

    — Joseph    Jun 13, 09:55 AM    #

77. depaul university has taken a coward’s way out in denying dr. finkelstein tenure. the jesuit school says that he is intolerant of other people’s opinions. had the board that denied him tenure heard his debate with tom segev, they would have been quite surprised to see how dr. finkelstein’s remarks were. if anything he is even handed. that his views are unpopular is stating the obvious. depaul has let down the high standards of rhetoric and debate that the jesuit founder ignatius of loyola set. they caved into to the fear of the israeli lobby and its powerful presence in the united states. they kept fingering of the beads of their abacus as to the dollars and cents the university might lose. and mammon won. dr. finklestein may have lost tenure but his ideas have not lost a millegramme of their import. as a jew, I say shame to the managers of DePaul.

    — jakob wasi    Jun 13, 11:06 AM    #

78. The Zionist-McCarthyists will lose the war because the truth will out. Finkelstein exposed Dershowitz as a fraud; his mistake was to continue the debate: wrestle with a pig and you get muddy.

    No one can seriously doubt Finkelstein’s scholarship, and his last book was indeed intensely peer-reviewed, precisely because Dershowitz repeatedly threatened to suppress it:

    http://chronicle.com/weekly/v51/i46/46a00101.htm

    — Karen Novotny    Jun 14, 02:31 PM    #

79. Response to 74.) .
    See 34.) above, opening paragraph. Also: Finkelstein NEVER retracted his (obviously correct) charges of plagiarism against Dershowitz. Rather, he retracted his open suspicion that Dershowitz did not even write The Case For Israel, after Dershowitz supplied his hand-written notes to Finkelstein’s publisher. However, any comparison of The Case For Israel with From Time Immemorial proves indisputably that the first two chapters of the former are simply an abridged version of the latter, without attribution. Hence, the truth is that Dershowitz hand-wrote the piece of plagiarism that was published under his name, instead of typing it or having someone else appropriate and rephrase Peters’ work for him.

    — MFW    Jun 14, 04:09 PM    #

80. Geez! Look into Norman Finkelsteins background. He is a communist. He is a nasty name caller. If he does not like someones view on the Israeli-Palestenian conflict he resorts to childish name calling. He was fired from NYU and Hunter College. He writs as an angry immature little boy. He is anti-Jewish. He is no more Jewish than Santa Claus. he is an atheistic communist who renounced any Jewish heritage years ago.

    Why should professors even get tenure to start with. I never understood why they need guaranteed job protection. This allows them to spew any nonsense that would get a private sector worker fired in a nanosecond.

    No tenure for the communist Finkelstein is fine by me.

    Only a Jew hater or communist can possibly support this jerk.

    — Sam Karpov    Jun 14, 09:55 PM    #

81. ///“”“Finkelstein has more than met the requirements for tenure anywhere…”“”

    That is false. In fact Finkelstein has by his own admission never published in a refereed academic journal, which is a requirement for tenure at most universities.///

    Well, I’d say his record of published academic books over rides the fact that no in house/University circulated academic journals have publshed his work — also we know WHY his work wasn’t published in academic journals — becuase the Israel lobby bores have him down as ( yawn ) “anti Semitic”.

    ///— Jonathan Mark Jun 9, 02:36 AM #

    Can any of you Finkelstein supporters point to a piece of scholarship he has produced? Thought so.///

    That’s easy to answer — just read any of his books, which are supported by high ranking Jewish scholars worldwide — Jewish scholar Raoul Hilberg, THE holocaust expert praises his work to the skies, as does Iraqi Jewish Oxford University scholar, Avi Shlaim, and Jewish intellectual Noam Chomsky. Not bad I’d say, and probably far surpassing much of the academic success of many of his peers at De Paul.

    ///Celebrated by neo-Nazis, radical terrorists and bigots of every stripe, Finkelstein has made a name for himself making a mockery both of scholarship and of the Holocaust. He was jusifiably Named the “Jewish David Irving” by notorious Nazi propagandist Ernst Zundel,///

    Ridiculous — Finkelstein is PRO supporting GENUINE holocaust survivors,( as both his parents were ) and ANTI those who TAKE ADVANTAGE of the holocaust for their own ends. He has hard proof that some are exploiting the holocuast for their own ends — have you seen his documentary on the topic? No? Then watch it on his website.

    /// for both his disgusting bigotry and fraudulent scholarship.///

    Give examples of his “fraudulent scholarship “ please — he has backed up his assertions impeccably — can you? No, thought not.

    ///Look into Norman Finkelsteins background. He is a communist. He is a nasty name caller.///

    Oh please — we can’t give communists jobs now? I am not, nor ever have been a communist — but I wouldn’t deny someone’s right to a job if they were! Finkelstein is a name caller? Well, have you read the rumours that Dershowitz spread about Finkelstein’s mother, a death camp survivor? Please do, and then we’ll see who the name callers are.

    — Prof Barnabas    Jun 14, 10:53 PM    #

82. This is not about Dr. Finkelstein. This is about American high education system.
    This way Nazi Germany’ universities lost the world priority.

    — Tarshisha    Jun 15, 10:40 AM    #

83. I’d like to believe a fear of loss of donations had nothing to do with this decision, but, Brandeis University was threatened with a loss of $5 million in donations for having Jimmy Carter as a guest speaker!

    As for peer journals—I’m a professional, not an academic—but I can tell you peer journals in my field are generally crap and the people who are respected are those who publish books that a decade later are still being read.

    — Elizabeth    Jun 17, 10:31 AM    #

84. would tenure have been denied if dr finkelstein had spoken out against iraq or iran or even america. i think not.

    — barbara schindelman    Jun 18, 02:04 PM    #

85. How typical of the Israeli Lobby and its attack poodle Dershy! This man has been exposed as as humorless fraud and then has the nerve to try and deny tenure to a respected professor. This is an outrage.

    http://www.stoptheadl.org

    — The Israeli Lobby Strikes Again!    Jun 18, 08:09 PM    #

86. Mr. Finkelstein is a 54 year old academic without tenure even though he has taught for many years and at many colleges and universities. That alone says something about his fitness for tenure.

    I read somewhere that Mr. Finkelstein was one of 3 professors who were turned down by De Paul for tenure this year and that 20 some received tenure. I would imagine that the remaining 20 have written some things that have been controversial, we just don’t know about them because they have not created a media circus around themselves by publicly abusing their critics.

    I noticed that Mr. Finkelstein has a diatribe on his website against the Progressive Magazine. He is basically encouraging people to boycott this incredibly valuable defender of liberty simply because one of their regular contributors made some mildly unflattering statements about him. It seems that his own desire to protect free speech extends only to his own speech. If he really cared about free speech you would think he might want to keep his disagreement with the Progressive private.

    Finally, some of you need to grow up, this isn’t the end to academic freedom in America or even De Paul. Lot’s of people have written books and articles similar to those of Finkelstein’s and living lives of tenured bliss.

    — Mike Anderson    Jun 20, 04:31 PM    #

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