If University of South Florida officials thought that moving to fire professor Sami Al-Arian would dampen the political firestorm surrounding his incendiary views about the Middle East, they miscalculated. They haven't succeeded in making the issue go away -- and may not succeed in making Al-Arian do so. Faculty and student groups, along with just about everybody else with an interest in USF, are taking stands on one side or the other. And the whole controversy is being recycled by the national media, losing much of its context in the process.

USF's problems haven't gone away, either. In fact, the university's ham-handed actions have created a new set of issues that encourage Al-Arian to cast himself as a martyr. Al-Arian got in trouble through his own duplicity and deserves no particular sympathy. But the tortured arguments offered by USF president Judy Genshaft and the university's board of trustees set dangerous precedents that could compromise academic freedom throughout the state university system.

At this point, Genshaft and the trustees have only two honorable options for defusing this controversy: Either make a more persuasive case for firing Al-Arian, or give him back his job under conditions that protect the integrity and safety of the university community.

Last month, Genshaft and the trustees offered these rationales for firing Al-Arian: They said he failed to make clear during his public appearances that he did not speak as an official representative of USF. They said he violated an agreement with USF officials when he returned to campus after being put on paid leave. And they said his presence on campus has created security problems.

The first two charges are spurious. It is broadly understood that Al-Arian and the thousands of other faculty at USF speak for themselves and not in any official capacity for the university. Al-Arian also has generally abided by the restrictions placed on him during the periods in which he has been suspended from his faculty duties.

The issue of security is a more serious one. Ensuring the safety of the university community is a core responsibility for USF administrators. However, USF officials have offered no public evidence that Al-Arian's continued employment would present unacceptable security risks for the university. In any case, the academic integrity of a university shouldn't be held hostage to every crank who phones in a bomb threat.

Academic independence also shouldn't be compromised by pressure from politicians and donors. Although USF officials won't admit it, the real impetus for firing Al-Arian has come from influential people who have threatened to withhold money and political support from the university if Al-Arian stays. Caving in to that sort of pressure would leave every remaining faculty member -- and president -- in the university system vulnerable to the political sensitivities of a handful of meddlers.

Let's be clear: USF had grounds for firing Al-Arian years ago. It has been more than a decade since Al-Arian, a computer science professor with no academic credentials in Middle Eastern studies, embarrassed the university by creating a supposed think tank, affiliated with USF, as a vehicle for furthering an extremist Islamic agenda. Al-Arian had been traveling around the country spouting hateful views about Israel and the United States well before that, but USF officials apparently hadn't noticed. Once some of the World and Islam Studies Enterprise's links to terrorist groups were exposed, the university ended its affiliation with the organization.

Since that episode, Al-Arian has maintained a good record in the classroom. He has never been charged with a crime, and he has curtailed the irresponsible speeches and troubling fundraising activities that raised concerns years ago. But USF officials didn't try to fire him until recently, after a post-Sept. 11 media appearance brought unwelcome national attention to Al-Arian's past activities.

The unfavorable national attention and resulting pressure to fire Al-Arian are new, but the actions that might have warranted his firing occurred years ago, under previous USF administrators. Genshaft isn't to blame for her predecessors' mishandling of Al-Arian and WISE, but she and the new board of trustees are responsible for dealing with Al-Arian now in a manner that protects the university's security and academic integrity. Their first effort at building a case for firing Al-Arian failed that responsibility. The controversy will continue to fester at USF's expense until they deal with the issue more honestly.

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