FINKELSTEIN 'THROWS IN THE TOWEL'

(Ben Heine © Cartoons)
The dispute between Norman Finkelstein and DePaul University is over. Finkelstein resigned.

Despite complaints and whines from his biggest adversary, Dershowitz, the university referred to him as "Professor Finkelstein is a prolific scholar and an outstanding teacher."
Why then did they deny him tenure? Go figure....
Dershowitz and his ilk would have liked to see this issue remain headline news for a long time to come, but I am sure they will find a new victim soon...

The following article from the Chicago Tribune deals with the latest developments.

Finkelstein resigns and college lauds his teaching—terminating their showdown
By Ron Grossman | Tribune staff reporter

The long-running battle between outspoken professor Norman Finkelstein and DePaul University administrators ended Wednesday as the two sides agreed on a private settlement, cutting short a planned day of protests.

But the underlying struggle between supporters of Israel and champions of the Palestinians continues, not just at the North Side campus but across the academic world.

Finkelstein's case attracted far greater public attention than tenure struggles usually do, with supporters across the nation demanding the Catholic university grant him tenure and detractors just as vehemently insisting he be fired. Wednesday's settlement did little to calm those waters.

Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, a strong supporter of Israel, has been engaged in a long and bitter public debate with Finkelstein. Dershowitz expressed outrage at the apparent compromise Wednesday, especially a written statement from the university that declared, "Professor Finkelstein is a prolific scholar and an outstanding teacher."

"The university has traded truth for peace," said Dershowitz. "The statement that [Finkelstein] is a scholar is simply false. He's a propagandist."

Finkelstein's cause, meanwhile, has found support among academic powerhouses such as the late Raul Hilberg, the dean of Holocaust historians, and Noam Chomsky, linguist and social critic. Finkelstein is something of a protégé of Chomsky, with whom he shares a critical stance toward Israel and American foreign policy.

Chomsky said he had not seen the terms of the settlement, but added in an e-mail: "Of course, the whole affair was an utter outrage, a cowardly attack on academic freedom."

Earlier this year, DePaul Dean Chuck Suchar had rejected tenure for Finkelstein, saying the political scientist, known for his red-hot rhetoric, hadn't been true to the school's "Vincentian values," including respect for the views of others.

But supporters felt Finkelstein was being intellectually martyred for his strong criticisms of Israel.

Opponents, meanwhile, saw Finkelstein, himself Jewish, as peddling a brand of anti-Semitism for which there should be no place on campus.

Finkelstein has rejected charges of anti-Jewish bias in his books, telling an Israeli newspaper: "I am just the messenger who reports on the actions of the Jewish establishment, actions that are encouraging anti-Semitism," he said.

After losing his tenure battle in June, Finkelstein was unexpectedly put on administrative leave shortly before classes started at DePaul on Wednesday.

He vowed in return to commit an act of civil disobedience and stage a hunger strike, which guaranteed a parade of protesters and television trucks on the first day of the new quarter.

Wednesday's demonstration witnessed the way in which the professor's personal and academic struggle has been subsumed into a constellation of larger issues. Though the majority in the pro-Finkelstein ranks were college age, some in the crowd of 120 looked like veterans of many an earlier protest. One carried a placard and a portable oxygen supply.

But instead of a dramatic standoff, Finkelstein stood beside a statue of St. Vincent DePaul, for whom the university is named, and announced that he and the school had come to an amicable agreement: He resigned, and the university acknowledged his scholarship and teaching.

Recently, both supporters of the Palestinians and those of the Israelis have exchanged cries of "foul" during bitter campus debates. Jewish college students have complained of being harassed, in and out of the classroom. After an incident at the University of Chicago, that school brought in counselors, hoping to restore civility to the dorms.

Scholars of Middle Eastern studies have complained that Jewish organizations were out to censor them.

But Finkelstein himself was soft-spoken in what had been billed as his final class session.

His voice cracked with emotion when he thanked his students for their support through some dark periods.

"My spirits have been lifted when I walked into a classroom," he said. "You have put a high burden on my shoulders."

More from the Associated Press via HaAretz
You can feel the viciousness and hatred of Dershowitz in this article....

(Ben Heine © Cartoons)
U.S. prof. who says Jews abuse Holocaust to curb critics resigns
By The Associated Press

A Chicago university professor who has drawn criticism for accusing some Jews of abusing the legacy of the Holocaust agreed Wednesday to resign immediately "for everybody's sake."

DePaul University officials and political science professor Norman Finkelstein issued a joint statement announcing the resignation, which came as about a hundred protesters gathered outside the dean's office to support him.

Finkelstein, who is the son of Holocaust survivors, was denied tenure in June after spending six years on DePaul's faculty. His remaining class was cut by DePaul last month.

His most recent book, Beyond Chutzpah: On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History, is largely an attack on Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz's The Case for Israel. In his book, Finkelstein argues that Israel uses perceived anti-Semitism as a weapon to stifle criticism.

Dershowitz, who threatened to sue Finkelstein's publisher for libel, urged DePaul officials to reject Finkelstein's tenure bid.

Finkelstein said in the statement that he believes the tenure decision was tainted by external pressures, but praised the university's "honorable role of providing a scholarly haven for me the past six years."

The school denied that outside parties influenced the decision to deny Finkelstein tenure. The school's portion of the statement called Finkelstein a prolific scholar and an outstanding teacher.

Finkelstein called that acknowledgment the most important part of the statement.

"I felt finally I had gotten what was my due and that maybe it was time, for everybody's sake, that I move on," he said at a news conference that followed a morning rally staged by students and faculty who carried signs and chanted "stop the witch hunt."

Finkelstein added: "DePaul students rose to dazzling spiritual heights in my defense that should be the envy of and an example for every university in the United States."

The professor would not discuss financial terms of the resignation agreement, which he said was confidential, but noted that it does not bar him from speaking out about issues that concern him, including the unfairness of the tenure process.

He also said he does not know what he will do next, but came to realize before Wednesday that "the atmosphere had become so poisoned that it was virtually impossible for me to carry on at DePaul. The least I could hope for is to leave DePaul with my head up high and my reputation intact."

Dershowitz was critical of the school. "DePaul looks like they caved into pressure," he said in a telephone interview. "The idea of describing him as a scholar trades truth for convenience. He's a man who is a propagandist and is not a scholar."

Still, Dershowitz said, "I'm happy he's out of academia. Let him do his ranting on street corners."

See also the following News Release issued by Finkelstein and DePaul University...
September 05, 2007

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Joint statement of Norman Finkelstein and DePaul University on their tenure controversy and its resolution

Norman Finkelstein and DePaul University issued the following statement today in connection with the resolution of their dispute over the University's denial of tenure to Professor Finkelstein. Except for this statement there will be no public comment regarding the resolution of our controversy or the terms of our agreement.

From Professor Finkelstein: I came to DePaul University in 2001 and was put on a tenure-track position in 2003. To get tenure I had to demonstrate a credible record as a teacher, scholar, and citizen of the university. During my six year stint at DePaul I consistently received among the highest student evaluations in my department. I have published five books to critical acclaim from leading scholars, and they have been translated into 46 foreign editions. I have been recognized as a public intellectual at many of the leading universities in the United States and Europe and have become an internationally recognized scholar in my academic specialties. Based on this record, I should have received tenure. Indeed, after extensive scrutiny of my academic credentials, my department voted overwhelmingly to tenure me as did the college-level tenure committee, which voted unanimously in my favor. The only inference that I can draw is that I was denied tenure due to external pressures climaxing in a national hysteria that tainted the tenure process. The outpouring of support for me after the tenure denial from among the most respected scholars in the world buttresses this conclusion.

Although DePaul's decision to deny me tenure was a bitter blow, I would be remiss in my responsibilities if I did not also acknowledge DePaul's honorable role of providing a scholarly haven for me the past six years. It is a fact, and I would want to acknowledge it, that the DePaul administration kept me on its faculty despite overwhelming external pressures. It is also a fact that my professional colleagues displayed rare rectitude in steadfastly supporting me. It is also a fact that DePaul students rose to dazzling spiritual heights in my defense that should be the envy of and an example for every university in the United States. I will miss them.

It is now time for me to move on and hopefully find new ways to fulfill my own mission in life of making this world a slightly better place on leaving it than when I entered it.

From DePaul: Today we have reached a resolution of our dispute with Professor Norman Finkelstein. As a part of that resolution he has agreed to resign effective immediately. With this issue behind us, we can once again turn our full attention and energy to discharging our most important duty: the education of DePaul students, who have placed in us their trust and faith.

Granting tenure is a guarantee of lifetime employment. DePaul's standards for tenure are demonstrated and sustainable excellence in teaching and scholarship as well as meaningful service to the University. Every DePaul faculty member seeking tenure is evaluated by the same standards: it is an evaluation of faculty conducted by faculty.

Throughout the tenure process, our faculty ensured that the established standards for tenure were their only consideration. Upon receiving the recommendations from the lower level faculty committees, the University Board on Promotion and Tenure - DePaul's highest academic committee - voted to deny Professor Finkelstein tenure, and the President of DePaul accepted that vote. We understand that Professor Finkelstein and his supporters disagree with the University Board on Promotion and Tenure's conclusion that he did not meet the requirements for tenure. The system is designed to give every applicant the same opportunity to achieve tenure, and has proven to be fair and effective. In every tenure case, the final decision is one of balancing the various arguments for and against tenure.

Professor Finkelstein has expressed the view that he should have been granted tenure and that third parties external to the University influenced DePaul in denying tenure. That is not so. Over the past several months, there has been considerable outside interest about the tenure decision. This attention was unwelcome and inappropriate. In the end, however, it had absolutely no impact on either the process or the final outcome.

Professor Finkelstein is a prolific scholar and an outstanding teacher. The University thanks him for his contributions and service.

Both parties are satisfied with the resolution of their dispute and wish each other well in their future endeavors.

Media Contact: Denise Mattson, (312)362-6225

The following recent videos are worth watching as well....

Some youTube vids of the Sept 5 events at DePaul:

Labor Beat: Professor Finkelstein's DePaul Farewell - a good summary

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_j0exZJ1UY

AFC: Student Protest March

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpHv7jwDjlU

AFC: Norman Finkelstein's Statement Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_q-rL5ebsM

Part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLbYDRevpSk

Part 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZqja6qzmfE

Part 4

http://www.youtube.com/v/CgV__bgkLXM