School Loses Suit in Bid to Fire Palestinian

A federal judge Monday threw out a University of South Florida lawsuit that sought court approval for a plan to fire a tenured Palestinian professor accused of having terrorist ties.

The university had wanted U.S. District Judge Susan Bucklew to rule that its plan to fire the computer science professor, Sami Al-Arian, would not violate his constitutional rights to free speech.

The judge recommended that the dispute be submitted to arbitration instead of a federal court, under the school’s collective bargaining agreement with its employees.

The state university has alleged that Al-Arian raised money for terrorist groups, brought terrorists into the United States, and founded organizations that support terrorism.

“We do not believe that terminating him would violate his rights, but this was an effort to make absolutely sure,” university spokesman Michael Reich said in a statement. He said the school still could fire Al-Arian, but would explore all of its options before determining how to proceed.

Al-Arian had already said he would sue if he were fired.

Al-Arian’s attorney, Robert McKee, said he was pleased with the judge’s decision.

“The ball’s in their court,” he said. “If USF is, as they represented to the court, uncertain whether firing Dr. Al-Arian violates his constitutional rights, then we suggest they shouldn’t fire him.”

Al-Arian has been on paid leave since a television appearance shortly after the 9/11 attacks in which he was quizzed about links to known terrorists, and asked about tapes from the late 1980s and early 1990s in which he said “Death to Israel” in Arabic.

Last December, at the urging of university trustees, university President Judy Genshaft said Al-Arian should be fired from his $67,500-a-year job, alleging breach of contract and saying his presence on campus was disruptive and a safety threat.

Al-Arian has denied the allegations of terrorist links, which earlier this year got his brother-in-law, Mazen Al-Najjar, deported to Lebanon.

The two men founded the World and Islam Studies Enterprises, a now-defunct Islamic think tank at the university. A former head of the group, Ramadan Adbulah Shallah, left in 1995 and later resurfaced as head of a terrorist organization, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.