Petition to Reinstate Former DePaul Prof Finds Widespread Support
by Jim Brown
August 1, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A growing number of professors, scholars, and students are backing a petition calling for the reinstatement of a professor who was suspended by DePaul University without a hearing after he offended Muslim students with his pro-Israel views.More than 1,400 people have signed a petition initiated by the Scholars for Peace in the Middle East requesting the reinstatement of former DePaul professor Tom Klocek. The petition will be delivered to DePaul University President Dennis Holtschneider and to Susan Dumbleton, Dean of the School for New Learning.
The veteran professor was suspended after engaging in a heated verbal exchange with Muslim students at a student fair on the DePaul campus. During that debate, he reportedly disputed the claims of pro-Palestinian students who equated Israel's treatment of the Palestinians to Hitler's treatment of the Jews.
Klocek, a Roman Catholic, says the petition to reinstate him has drawn signatures from liberal, moderate, and conservative scholars who are united on the issue of academic freedom. "As one of the petitioners wrote, 'Who will be there for me?'" he notes. "I think that's probably the essential reason why a lot of people sign. They realize if this can happen to me, Thomas Klocek, it can happen to them as well."
After the suspension, the longtime DePaul instructor ended up giving up his teaching assignment for that quarter with pay and has not worked at the university since. He believes the disciplinary action the administration took against him was prompted by complaints from two Muslim student groups and the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR.
"The president of the university met several times with the leaders from that group," Klocek says, "and several of the students, as a matter of fact, from Students for Justice in Palestine work as volunteers for that group." For that reason, he says he thinks there is "a very close connection" between what happened to him and "the activities of this group in connection with DePaul University."
Last year, Klocek filed a defamation lawsuit against DePaul University, alleging that school officials had attempted to malign his reputation in the press. In late May, a judge scolded DePaul for its political correctness, among other things, and ruled that Klocek's case could proceed.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
