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ANITA KUMARDespite a terrorism indictment, the school failed to give Sami Al-Arian due process, an academic association says.
TAMPA - Despite Sami Al-Arian's indictment on terrorism charges, a national group influential in higher education has concluded the University of South Florida violated the fired professor's academic rights.
A committee of the American Association of University Professors says in a new report that USF disregarded Al-Arian's due process rights in February by firing him before he had a chance to defend himself in court.
"The principle of "innocent until proven guilty' ought to be observed in our institutions of higher learning no less than it is on our courts," the committee wrote.
The report, the product of a yearlong investigation, will be presented to the AAUP membership at a meeting next month in Washington, D.C. The findings could be enough to elicit a vote of censure, which would be an embarrassment for USF.
The AAUP wrote many of the principles that govern academic freedom in higher education. Its censure carries enough weight to have a detrimental effect on faculty hiring and retention.
Supporters of Al-Arian, including his wife, Nahla, praised the report's conclusion.
"This ruling is uplifting for our morale," she said Wednesday. "We see some fairness here."
USF spokesman Michael Reich said the university is surprised by the AAUP's conclusion and said the report doesn't do justice to the federal government's 121-page indictment of Al-Arian.
"The courts will decide criminal guilt," Reich said. "We decide if using our resources to support terrorism violates his employment."
Federal agents arrested Al-Arian, 45, in February on charges that he was the North American leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a terrorist group that has killed dozens of people in the past decade.
USF president Judy Genshaft fired the tenured computer science professor a week later. She said his alleged terrorist activities harmed the school and interfered with his job, which violated his employment contract.
Genshaft declined to comment Wednesday on the AAUP's report.
The school said Al-Arian used USF as a cover to bring faculty and students into the country for terrorist meetings under the guise of academic conferences. It also said he used university equipment, including computers and phones, to operate a terrorist organization.
Al-Arian became the focus of death threats after his alleged ties to terrorists were aired on national television a few weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. He was placed on paid leave, a status that continued until he was fired after his arrest.
An AAUP committee of three professors from other universities visited USF in March 2002 after the association concluded the case raised "issues of academic freedom, tenure and due process that are of basic concern to the academic community."
AAUP associate general secretary Jordan Kurland declined to comment on the report, which is scheduled to be published in the May-June edition of Academe magazine.
Al-Arian, who is being held at the Coleman Correctional Facility in Sumter County, has said he intends to seek reinstatement to his teaching post at USF.
"I applaud them," Robert McKee, Al-Arian's labor attorney, said of the AAUP investigating committee. "I'm sure it's the right call. I'm happy they see the indictment for what it is."
After his arrest, Al-Arian requested that USF postpone the appeal of his firing until his criminal trial had concluded. The university agreed.
"We're very surprised they say we violated due process," Reich said. "We're in the middle of due process."