Salaita - Uncivil Rites : Palestine and the Limits of Academic Freedom

Praise for Uncivil Rites

Uncivil Rites reveals Steven Salaitas deep humanity and integrity. Despite the efforts of the University of Illinois to silence him, Salaita continues to speak out courageously for Palestinian rights. His case is a reminder to us all of the need to defend academic freedom and to protect those who challenge the powerful.

Glenn Greenwald, author, No Place to Hide and With Liberty and Justice for Some

This book is an important historical document, recounting a courageous academics effort to stand up to institutional racism at one of Americas putative preeminent academic institutions.

Rula Jebreal-Altschul, author, Miral

This is Steven Salaita at his most brilliant, hilarious, incisive, and moving. Uncivil Rites is a deeply personal account of Salaitas year since his firing from the University of Illinois over tweets critical of Israels assault on Gaza. But it is much more than that. Although I have followed every twist of the case since it began, Salaitas unique vantage point provides crucial parts of the story that have been missing until now. Salaita is capable of startling vulnerability and personal revelation, seamlessly shifting back to perfect scholarly detachment, always hitting exactly the right note as he parries with and demolishes his accusers. This masterful book shows that far from diminishing him, the ordeal inflicted on Salaita has spurred him to produce some of his best writing yet. It is essential reading for all of us who believe we must fight to defend free speech against the encroaching corporatization of every aspect and institution of American life.

Ali Abunimah, cofounder, Electronic Intifada and author, The Battle for Justice in Palestine

Uncivil Rites is Steven Salaitas most important work to date. Using his unjust dismissal from University of Illinois as the backdrop, Salaita exposes the intellectual, moral, and political contradictions of the 21st-century neo-liberal university. He also spotlights the dangers of conflating anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism, resistance with terrorism, and righteous outrage with incivility. This book only reinforces Salaitas well-deserved reputation as one of the most honest, courageous, and incisive scholars of our generation.

Marc Lamont Hill, Distinguished Professor of African American studies, Morehouse College

Out of the experience of McCarthyism came a literature of memoir and protest that was too good for the history that produced it. Steven Salaitas Uncivil Rites is also too good for the events that produced it. A kind of travelogue of the unbound mind, Uncivil Rites offers a palimpsest of Salaitas experiences on the road and his reflectionspart literary, part historical, part familialon the politics and personalities of his firing. An autobiographical story that is anything but personal, it is by turns tender, thoughtful, enraging, and often laugh-out-loud funny. Many books feel like a duty; this was sheer pleasure.

Corey Robin, professor of political science, Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center

Contents

For he who ignites

Acknowledgments

T his book is partly about me, but only as I have been actualized by various communities. Before we proceed, I wish to recognize numerous people who have enabled my intellectual, mental, and moral actualization. I beg of the reader not to harbor any resentment toward these folks for my own shortcomings.

Matthew and Christina Shenoda: your love and wisdom are peerless; Ben and Jenny Sax: thank you for always offering your friendship and your home in moments of trouble (and joy); John and Peter Housein: in law does nothing to describe my actual perception of you; Michael Salaita: you demolish all negative connotations of the phrase big brother; Danya Lynch: few things make me prouder than calling you my sister; Mom and Dad: you created meI love you all the more because youre proud to live with the result; my beautiful nieces and nephews: you are each wise beyond my years; Nasri and Delia: I adore being thought of as one of your own; Mohammed Abed: our friendship, like the justice, can never be divided; Ahmed Ghappour: may I ever be on your good sideits glorious over there; Corey Robin: just wow; Michael Smith and Michael Ratner: you are models of principled dissent; Lisa Kahaleole Hall: puppies and toddlers forever; Ali Abunimah: when we change the world, youll get that Pulitzer; Robert Warrior: my words can never do you justice; Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor and Lauryn Fleer: my favorite power couple; Vicente Diaz: please keep fucking with things in an Island way; J. Kehaulani Kauanui: youre one of the few people who could convince me to do acupuncture, and yet Im not at all surprised that it works; Magid Shihade and Sunaina Maira: I talk often of your fierce intelligence but not enough about your deep kindness; David Lloyd: you are a moral giant; Dina Omar: some streets can be judged by the quality of company rather than the architecture; Salah Hassan: I never fail to learn tons whenever we talk; Junaid Rana: you do not get nearly enough credit for your superb organizingI hope this shout-out helps; Mimi Nguyen: the same is true of you and your constant badassery; Sarah Roberts: youve been there from the beginning, and nobody doubts youll stay to the end; Rico Kleinstein Chenyek: abrazos y solidaridad ; Donna Nevel and Alan Levine: I always carry your kindness; Eman Ghanayem: you are the hero of this story; Stephanie Skora: you are what a real undergraduate educator looks like; Jodi Byrd: the empire will never withstand your fierce intellect; Nadine Naber: I often joke that were tribesfolk, and I reiterate it herethis time, though, it has nothing to do with nationality or geography; David Palumbo-Liu: your energy and effervescence constantly inspire; Jasbir Puar: so many rely on your fierce compassion; Evelyn Alsultany: you are our model of probity.

Nobody knows how to campaign with integrity, intelligence, and efficiency like the members of the USACBI Organizing Collective, a body of which Im grateful to be a member. Individually, you are each brilliant; collectively, you are a lifeline.

SJP, SAIA, SUPER, and SPHR: please keep teaching everybody how principled activism should be conducted.

This country would be much worse without the Center for Constitutional Rights, particularly the splendid Baher Azmy, Maria LaHood, and Omar Shakir.

Anand Swaminathan, Jon Loevy, and Gretchen Helfrich of Loevy and Loevy in Chicago have handled my legal case with dignity, empathy, and intelligence.

I would love to take credit for the wonderful phrase uncivil rites, but credit goes to the great Elyse Crystall, who used it as the title of an event she organized for me at UNCChapel Hill.

The team at Haymarket, particularly the preternaturally patient Anthony Arnove, has been a joy to work with. Ruth Baldwin and Dao Tran are terrific editors.

And Diana: a less loving spouse might have found hundreds of reasons to give up on me. Even difficult situations offer life in its greatest incarnation as long as we have cause to be together. Thank you for the strength and persistence. I love you.

Three

Entry Not Approved

W as I actually hired? According to contract law and hiring protocol, yes. UIUC and its supporters claim that I wasnt technically yet an employee because my appointment was contingent on the approval of the board of trustees, but various factors render that claim insufficient.

First of all, university chancellor Phyllis Wise, system president Robert Easter, and the board of trustees ignored their own statutes, which stipulate that in the event of a hiring issue the dean and department chair convene and consider that issue in conjunction with upper administration. Wise, Easter, and the board acted arbitrarily, without input from relevant faculty bodies.

Theres also this statute: It is the policy of the University to maintain and encourage full freedom within the law of inquiry, discourse, teaching, research, and publication and to protect any member of the academic staff against influences, from within or without the University, which would restrict the members exercise of these freedoms in the members area of scholarly interest. Administration is charged with protecting faculty from outside influence. We have considerable evidence that UIUC acted in response to donor pressure.