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Al-Arian vows to fight until he wins
By ANITA KUMAR, Times Staff Writer
TAMPA -- Palestinian professor Sami Al-Arian vowed Tuesday to fight the University of South Florida until he prevails against school officials he says are punishing him for political motives. Al-Arian, placed on leave by the school more than a year ago, won a small victory a day earlier when a federal judge refused to rule on USF's question about whether firing him would violate his constitutional right to free speech. "Nobody is going to force me to leave because somehow they don't like me or like my politics," Al-Arian said. "I don't want any person to dictate to me where I should or shouldn't work." His attorney, Robert McKee, urged USF to drop its effort to fire the tenured computer science professor. He said it would prevent more negative publicity, a damaging censure from the American Association of University Professors and further waste of state money. He said taxpayers should lobby USF president Judy Genshaft to reinstate Al-Arian. He also criticized the $1.6-million contract that Genshaft is expected to receive today. "We suggest that the enormous amount of tax dollars the university contemplates spending to continue its persecution of Dr. Al-Arian would be better spent on scholarships or on research or even to fund president Genshaft's huge pay increase," McKee said. USF has spent more than $85,000 on the case. Al-Arian has spent about $30,000, McKee said. Genshaft declined to comment Tuesday, but university officials say she will probably wait until January to decide how to proceed in the case that has garnered international attention. The university has until Jan. 16 to decide whether to appeal U.S. District Judge Susan Bucklew's decision to throw out the case. She said getting involved "would not be a wise and practical use of judicial resources." 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 terrorist attacks. He was placed on paid leave from his $67,500-a-year job after the appearance. If she choses not to appeal Bucklew's decision, Genshaft could fire Al-Arian or allow him to teach again. If she reinstates him, she could postpone his return to campus to give people time to calm down or allow him to use off-campus computers and closed-circuit TV to teach classes. If she fires him, Al-Arian said he will file a grievance against USF, which would trigger months of meetings and reviews at the university before a hearing with an arbitrator agreed upon by both sides. The process could take nine to 12 months just to get to arbitration, and another one to two months for a decision. The decision is binding. "We are in this for the long haul," Al-Arian said Tuesday from his attorney's Ybor City office where he appeared with his wife, son and daughter, who attends USF. "We're not going to quit. We will prevail with God's help." A change in the way Florida's public universities are governed may complicate the case. On Jan. 7, the universities will be run by a new statewide board but each individual school also will retain individual boards of trustees. USF General Counsel R.B. Friedlander and Dick Beard, chairman of the USF Board of Trustees, said it's unclear how that change could affect the board's authority or contracts with faculty members. "I just don't know what authority we will have," Beard said. "I don't know what happens next." Al-Arian, 44, denies alleged ties to terrorism. He he has been under federal investigation on and off for years. USF's lawsuit accused him of bringing terrorists into the United States, and founding organizations that supported terrorism and incited people to break the law.
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