UIC United Faculty statement on Steven Salaita
August 8, 2014
UIC UF Executive Committee
As unionized faculty who fought for the legal protection of collective bargaining to sustain our rights of free speech, academic freedom, and shared governance through our contract, UICUF stands with the Illinois AAUP Committee A statement concerning the actions taken by the UIUC Administration in regards to the matter of Professor Steven Salaita. The University’s abrupt decision to revoke their contract of employment failed to give “…Professor Salaita any due process. In the absence of due process, particularly if a contract was signed, any institutional action to reverse an offer of appointment would be a grave violation of academic due process.”
We call on the Illinois and National chapters of AAUP to launch an immediate investigation of this decision. We want to know how the University could justify this in light of our long standing practices that protect our academic freedoms through an open system of shared governance, university statutes that protect due process, along with our constitutional protections as a free people to embrace an open and robust exchange of opposing viewpoints.
President: Janet Smith
Executive Vice President: Scott McFarland
Treasurer: John Shuler
Secretary: Joseph Persky
VP/NTT: Geraldine Gorman
VP/TT: Paul Preissner
VP/Chief Steward: Jennifer Ashton
