Al-Arian to judge: Dismiss USF's suit

The professor argues that the case denies him any say in where and how the dispute is settled.

By ANITA KUMAR, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published September 17, 2002

TAMPA -- Professor Sami Al-Arian asked a judge Monday to dismiss the lawsuit filed against him by the University of South Florida and accused the school of denying him his legal right to resolve the dispute outside a courtroom.

If the case isn't dismissed, Al-Arian wants to at least postpone the court case until after an arbitrator has decided whether the tenured computer science professor should be fired for his alleged ties to terrorism.

"There is no basis to ask the courts," said Robert McKee, Al-Arian's attorney. "The courts are not in the business of giving individuals legal opinions."

USF president Judy Genshaft took the unusual step last month of filing suit in Hillsborough Circuit Court, asking a judge to determine whether firing Al-Arian would violate his First Amendment rights.

McKee argues that a court battle denies Al-Arian the choice of where to appeal his firing and gives USF a tactical advantage by allowing the school to engage in a costly, lengthy fight that forces Al-Arian to be deposed.

"If a court gets into this, there is no end to what this could mean in the employment arena," McKee said.

USF spokesman Michael Reich said the school was not trying to circumvent Al-Arian's due process. Rather, he said, Al-Arian would be allowed to go through the grievance procedure if Genshaft made a final decision to fire him.

"She hasn't made the final decision," Reich said. "She wants to resolve the constitutional issues first. . . . This is a step over and above due process."

Al-Arian has said that if Genshaft fires him, he will file a grievance against USF, which would trigger months of meetings and reviews at the university before a hearing that would be presided over by an arbitrator agreed upon by both sides.

On Monday, McKee also asked a judge to move the case from state court to federal court, where he hopes it will be dismissed, because the lawsuit involves federal First Amendment rights and a federal criminal offense of aiding terrorism.

USF has 10 business days to respond to the request to dismiss the case and the request to move it to federal court. A judge could call a hearing on the requests or issue an opinion without a hearing.

Dick Beard, chairman of the USF board of trustees, has said USF officials thought they needed to file the suit in state court because federal court didn't have jurisdiction over a contractual dispute.

But Beard said the school wanted the case to be moved to federal court because the judges are more experienced and conservative and likely to side with the university.

Al-Arian, 44, who has been under federal investigation on and off for years, denies alleged ties to terrorism. His responses to the lawsuit Monday were restricted to legal arguments.

He was under federal investigation in the mid 1990s when federal agents suspected that his Islamic think tanks were fronts for Middle Eastern terrorists. In February, authorities announced without elaboration that Al-Arian remained under investigation.

USF threatened to fire Al-Arian last year after allegations that he had ties to terrorists were aired on Fox News Channel's The O'Reilly Factor two weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks. He was placed on paid leave from his $67,500-a-year job.

The lawsuit accuses Al-Arian of raising money for terrorist groups, bringing terrorists into the United States, founding organizations that supported terrorism and inciting people to break the law, "thereby aiding and abetting international terrorism."

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