CHRONOLOGY
1975: Sami Al-Arian, born in Kuwait and educated in Egypt, becomes permanent U.S. resident.
DECEMBER 1981: Al-Arian’s brother-in-law, Mazen Al-Najjar, enters United States from Gaza on a student visa and studies for his master’s degree at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro.
1986: Al-Arian becomes an assistant professor at the University of South Florida after earning an engineering doctorate in North Carolina. In June, Al-Najjar moves to Tampa to earn a doctorate in engineering at USF.
OCTOBER 1988: Sami Al-Arian starts the Islamic Committee for Palestine, or ICP, to support Palestinian causes.
1990: Academic Khalil Shikaki becomes first director of the World and Islam Studies Enterprise, or WISE, a think tank founded by Al-Arian.
1991: Ramadan Abdullah Shallah joins WISE as a researcher and expert on Middle East economics.
MAY 1995: Relying heavily on the documentary Jihad in America, the Tampa Tribune publishes two-part story linking WISE, ICP, Al-Arian and Mazen Al-Najjar to fundraising and politicking for terrorist groups.
JUNE 1995: USF administrators meet with concerned citizens and professors about the allegations of terrorist ties and suspend the college’s agreement to work with WISE on conferences.
OCTOBER 1995: Shallah, recently a USF teacher and the administrator of WISE, is chosen leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Damascus, Syria.
APRIL 1996: USF holds exams a week early after receiving a bomb threat, and a 19-year-old student, Damian Hospital, gets five years’ probation and court-ordered counseling for the crime.
MAY 1997: Mazen Al-Najjar is arrested and jailed after he and his wife are ordered deported for overstaying visas. To keep him detained, the government introduces secret evidence that he is a threat. The legal fight will continue for the next five years.
SEPT. 26, 2001: Al-Arian appears on Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor and is questioned about his alleged ties to terrorism. The next day, USF receives angry phone calls and e-mails, and shuts down an engineering building for part of the day.
SEPT. 28, 2001: USF puts Al-Arian on paid leave for security reasons.
DEC. 18, 2001: USF lawyer determines that Al-Arian can be fired for disrupting the university.
DEC. 19, 2001: USF board of trustees votes 12-1 to recommend Al-Arian be fired. USF president Judy Genshaft announces her intention to fire him but later says she will wait to make a final decision.
JAN. 9, 2002: USF Faculty Senate votes not to support the trustees’ decision to fire Al-Arian.
FEB. 21, 2002: Federal prosecutors announce they are conducting an ongoing investigation “into the conduct and activities” of Al-Arian.
JUNE 8, 2002: The American Association of University Professors threatens to censure USF if the school fires Al-Arian.
AUG. 21, 2002: Genshaft announces the school will ask a judge whether he can be fired.
AUG. 22, 2002: Mazen Al-Najjar is placed on a chartered plane in the custody of U.S. officials to be flown to Bahrain. The Persian Gulf country refuses to allow the plane to land. After a stop in Ireland and Italy, Al-Najjar is taken to Lebanon.
DEC. 16, 2002: U.S. District Judge Susan Bucklew throws out the USF lawsuit, writing that the case “would not be a wise and practical use of judicial resources.” She said that arbitration between Al-Arian and USF should take place under the school’s collective bargaining agreement.
JAN. 15, 2003: USF decides not to appeal Bucklew’s ruling.
JAN. 24, 2003: Al-Arian has a grievance meeting with USF officials.
FEB. 5, 2003: Al-Najjar is reunited with his wife, Fedaa, and their three daughters in an unidentified “U.S. friendly Arab country.”
FEB. 20, 2003: Al-Arian is arrested at his home in Temple Terrace and accused of being the North American leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
