Fired Prof. Maura Finkelstein: A Martyr for Academic Freedom?

The New York Times has a profile of fired Muhlenberg professor Maura Finkelstein that portrays her as a martyr of for academic freedom.

Here is what David L. Bernstein and I wrote about her case in our forthcoming article:

Finkelstein claims that her dismissal was a response to her re-posting the following from another source:

Do not cower to Zionists. Shame them. Do not welcome them in your spaces. Do not make them feel comfortable. Why should those genocide-loving fascists be treated any different than any other flat-out racist. Don’t normalize Zionism. Don’t normalize Zionists taking up space.

We are not in a position to judge whether Finkelstein’s dismissal was solely or primarily the result of this posting. Regardless, if taken at face value, Finkelstein’s claim raises the question of where to draw the line between faculty statements of political opinions that should be protected and faculty statements that give rise to reasonable inference that they are unwilling or unable to follow federal law and university rules prohibiting discrimination against Jewish and Israeli students.

FIRE argues that although “Finkelstein’s speech may be offensive,” her post is protected by Muhlenberg’s promises of free speech and academic freedom. The authors, by contrast, believe that Finkelstein’s speech at least raises the implication that she would not welcome “Zionists” “taking up space” in her classroom, and obviously faculty members are not permitted to exclude or even discriminate against Zionist students–even if you ignore the question of whether discrimination against Zionists constitutes discrimination against Jews under federal law.

At the very least, then, Finkelstein’s rant provides ample justification for the university to inquire and investigate as to whether (a) Finkelstein was willing to affirm that her remarks do not apply to her obligations as a Muhlenberg professor; and (b) that she had not taken and did not intend to take exclusionary or discriminatory measures against “Zionist” students.

And that’s taking Finkelstein’s claim at face value, which I have reason to believe is very unlikely to be the whole story. But I would agree that this tweet alone, absent evidence that it reflected her actual behavior toward students, was not sufficient reason to fire a tenured professor.

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