A University of Arkansas professor who was suspended for social media posts about Israel, Gaza and Iran has been recommended for reinstatement by a group of her peers. Ozarks at Large's Daniel Caruth has more.
Last week, a faculty committee at the University of Arkansas unanimously voted not to dismiss professor Shirin Saeidi.
Saeidi, an Iranian-born political science professor, was removed as director of the university's King Fahd Center for Middle East Studies and recommended to be fired from her tenured position. In December, the university administration cited Saeidi's social media posts — which included criticism of Israel's military offensive in Gaza and statements about then-Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — as well as what they say is improper use of university letterhead in submitting a testimonial in defense of a former Iranian official in his war crimes trial in 2022.
In a letter dated Dec. 5, Dean of the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences Brian Raines informed Saeidi that she had been removed from her duties and that the school's Office of Equal Opportunity, Compliance and Title IX had received a complaint about her, including allegations of antisemitism. Saeidi appealed that decision and since then has been on suspended paid leave.
J.J. Thompson is a Cave Springs-based lawyer and represents Saeidi in this case.
"Obviously, we are thrilled to see Dr. Saeidi's colleagues standing behind her and recommending that the university do the right thing and let her back into the classroom and let her get back to her duties. Obviously, the battle at this point is with the administration."
Part of the appeal process is a hearing before the faculty Committee on Appointment, Promotion and Tenure. The committee then offers that recommendation to University of Arkansas System president Jay Silveria, who has the final say.
"There was an attempt to kind of rush this process along and get Dr. Saeidi off campus and gone. As soon as anybody slowed down enough to actually look at all the facts involved and talk to Dr. Saeidi, it just completely dissipated. And so I think that the public needs to understand that Dr. Saeidi's peers do not all agree with her politics. That doesn't matter. Whenever they sat down and they looked at the evidence, they conclusively determined there was no violation of policy, and that Dr. Saeidi should be reinstated."
Thompson, who represents other university employees he says are facing similar free speech issues, says this kind of scrutiny is becoming more common on college campuses across the state and the country.
"There has been a recent resurgence of an attempt to police academics in their speech. This isn't in-classroom speech — this is rather often people using their own private social media accounts. Schools are still trying to grapple with a lot of this.
"School policies in many places have not been updated to reflect the reality of social media. And if you have in your policies that you're not going to remove somebody simply for expressing a political opinion, and then you make moves to do that, obviously that's an issue. And I think universities are starting to grapple with that kind of a wave of attempted censorship, where individuals who don't like what other people are saying are trying to tamp down on their ability to express those opinions. And that's what we saw here in this case."
And he says, while this fight may seem niche or insignificant to many, he believes it could have major implications for higher education and free speech in Arkansas.
"The University of Arkansas is a shared resource, and our ability to attract top-tier academics is directly related to our policies and how we treat those academics when they get here. And so if we don't want the University of Arkansas to turn into a backwater institution, then we can't have policies in place — or fail to follow the policies in place — that protect academics for the basic ideas of free speech and academic freedom that we've come to expect in the Western world."
In January, the university's law school made headlines for rescinding an offer to proposed new dean Emily Suski after state Republican officials raised concerns about her legal opinions on transgender athletes to school administrators. And last fall, Felecia Branch, a professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock's Bowen Law School, was terminated for comments she made on social media following the murder of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk.
Branch was fired even after a faculty panel advised against it. But Thompson says he and his client are still hopeful about a path forward.
"We are able to appeal that decision to the Board of Trustees, and then, of course, if we're not able to resolve things internally with the school — or even if we are, depending on what that resolution looks like — of course we have the avenue of the courts as well."
In a statement, a spokesperson for the University of Arkansas declined to comment on the facts of Saeidi's case, but says her suspended status is unchanged, and they await a decision from University of Arkansas System president Jay Silveria soon.
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