THE REAL SALAITA SCANDAL — HOW LOUSY THE SCHOLARSHIP CAN BE IN “GRIEVANCE STUDIES” DEPARTMENTS:

Salaita was hired for a position in an American Indian studies program. His academic specialization, to the extent it can be called that, appears to be Middle Eastern or Arab-American studies. (His last book was entitled, Israel’s Dead Soul). As the Kramer excerpt illustrated, it can be hard sometimes to distinguish between the quality, tone, and substance of Salaita’s “scholarship” and that of his tweets. Subsequent work by David Bernstein (examining some of Salaita’s book reviews) and Liel Liebovitz (discussing some of Salaita’s “academic” publications) reinforces the concern with the quality of his work.

Perhaps the American Indian studies program at Illinois is a hotbed of Zionist sentiment, and its members, as part of their intense commitment to academic freedom, nonetheless hired Salaita for his impressive scholarship, despite their revulsion at his ideas. Or perhaps—far more likely—the program was attracted to Salaita at least in part because of his anti-Israel extremism, and as a result extended an offer to him at the expense of applicants who actually had done research in the history, literature, or culture of American Indians. (Does anyone believe that if Salaita had tweeted in defense of vitriolic attacks on Muslims rather than Israeli Jews, or had described the Palestinian Authority in the same terms he used to describe Israel, that he would have been extended an offer by Illinois’ American Indian studies department?) Given the quality of mind demonstrated in his tweets, and given the bizarre assertions he has made in his “scholarship,” it’s very hard to imagine that there wasn’t at least one candidate for the Illinois job more qualified than Salaita.

Because searches are perhaps the most opaque aspect of the academic process, the only way that the public will learn the identities of the other semi-finalists and finalists for the Illinois job is if the applicants themselves reveal it publicly. (The chances of that occurring are about zero: who would want to admit they were beaten out for a job by someone like Salaita?) But defenders of academic freedom should be as critical of the Indian Studies program as they are of the Illinois chancellor.

Such programs are often little more than sinecures for lefty activists.