There might be a case to be made for firing University of South Florida computer science professor Sami Al-Arian, whose activities in support of Palestinian extremist groups have gotten him in trouble over the years. Unfortunately, the craven charade USF president Judy Genshaft and other university officials acted out on Wednesday didn't make that case. Even worse, the pretext established for firing Al-Arian set a terrible precedent for USF's future governance under a new Board of Trustees.

In the course of trying to show that the case against Al-Arian was about something -- anything -- other than his controversial opinions, USF officials made several dubious and dangerous arguments:

Al-Arian violated his employment contract by failing to make clear, in his recent appearance on Fox News Channel's The O'Reilly Factor and in other forums, that he was not speaking as an official representative of USF.

Does anybody really believe such a disclaimer was necessary? Al-Arian is one of thousands of USF faculty members, and no sane person would assume that his hateful statements about the governments of Israel and the United States reflect the views of the USF administration. For better or worse, Genshaft and the trustees do speak for the university, and they have had every opportunity to distance themselves from Al-Arian's remarks.

Al-Arian's controversial comments have harmed USF's fundraising efforts and created security problems on campus.

Ensuring the safety of students and staff is a fundamental responsibility of any university. Security concerns led Genshaft to suspend Al-Arian with pay several weeks ago. Fundraising and student recruitment also are vital university concerns. However, the freedom of expression of members of the university community should not be held hostage to the sensitivities of every current or potential donor, much less those of every crackpot who calls in a death threat. By the contorted logic USF officials used Wednesday, any student or faculty member could be run off campus if his words offended enough donors, lawmakers or threatening cranks. USF trustee Connie Mack, the former U.S. senator, raised that concern during Wednesday's discussion, but he ultimately joined the majority in calling for Al-Arian's removal. Only Howard University president Patrick Swygert, the USF board's only academician, cast a dissenting vote.

Al-Arian violated his understanding with USF officials this fall when he returned to campus after being put on paid leave.

In fact, Al-Arian generally has abided by the restrictions placed on him by the university in recent years. USF's more serious concerns with Al-Arian date back more than a decade, when he misled administrators about the nature of the World and Islam Studies Enterprise, a supposed Middle Eastern think tank he established under USF auspices. That misadventure could have cost Al-Arian his job -- but firing Al-Arian then also would have invited more scrutiny of the judgment of officials who chose to give USF's imprimatur to a political organization run by an Islamic extremist with no academic expertise in Middle Eastern studies. That may explain why the matter was quietly put to rest at the time.

WISE was disbanded long ago. Al-Arian has a good record as a computer science professor and has never been charged with a crime. The incendiary comments that have him in trouble now were made years ago. The only new element of the story is that, in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Al-Arian's irresponsible words and actions from years ago were resurrected in ways that have made life miserable for USF administrators.

Academic freedom is not absolute even for tenured professors, and Al-Arian overstepped his bounds a decade ago. But in contriving a belated excuse for getting rid of a nuisance now, USF officials may have left the university vulnerable to much more serious encroachments on its academic integrity in the future.

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