Virginia Tech
What was the name of the employer Steven Salaita work for between Sep 2011 and Jun 2012?
Steven Salaita Steven Salaita ( born 1975 ) is a scholar , author and public speaker . He became the center of a controversy when the University of Illinois did not hire him as a professor of American Indian Studies following objections to a series of tweets critical of Israel and Zionism that were accused of antisemitism . Early life and education . Salaita was born in Bluefield , West Virginia on September 15 , 1975 , to Hispanic and Arab immigrant parents . His mother was born and raised in Nicaragua by Palestinian parents who originated in Beit Jala . He describes his own ethnic background as both Jordanian and Palestinian . Salaitas father was from Madaba , Jordan . His maternal grandmother lost her home in Ayn Karim outside of Jerusalem in 1948 . Salaita received his B.A . in political science from Radford University in 1997 and his M.A . in English from Radford in 1999 . He completed his Ph.D . at the University of Oklahoma in Native American studies with a literature emphasis . Career . Following completion of his Ph.D. , Salaita became an assistant professor of English at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater , where he taught American and ethnic American literature until 2006 . He was then hired as associate professor of English at Virginia Tech , and received tenure three years later . In addition to teaching English courses , Salaita wrote about themes of immigration , indigenous peoples , dislocation , race , ethnicity and multi-culturalism . Michael Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times refers to him as a respected scholar in American Indian studies and Israeli-Arab relations . Salaita won a 2007 Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Award for writing the book Anti-Arab Racism in the USA : Where It Comes from and What it Means for Politics Today . The Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights recognized Salaitas book as one that extends our understanding of the root causes of bigotry and the range of options we as humans have in constructing alternative ways to share power . Miriam Cooke , professor at Duke University , described the book as a sobering analysis of anti-Arab racism , from neo-conservative to liberal , rooted in Americas settler colonial past and seeping into every corner of our lives . Steven Salaita takes the reader into the crisis of Arab-American communities in the wake of September 11 . Written with passion , this lucid account of the dangers of American imperialism paints a dark picture of the agenda of the Bush administration not only in the Arab world but also for people of color at home . Sinan Antoon , assistant professor at New York University , reviewed Salaitas book , The Holy Land in Transit : Colonialism and the Quest for Canaan , published in 2006 . He found the authors comparative approach to Palestinian and Native American writers and the influence of politics on their production refreshing . He found the strongest chapter to be the one devoted to Salaitas personal experience of spending the summer of 2002 in the Shatila refugee camp , where he introduced Native American studies to the residents and developed perspectives on how alternative narratives can broaden the consciousness of decolonial advocates . Antoon notes that Salaita limited his scope to prose and limited Palestinian literature to English translations . In 2014 , Salaita received an appointment to begin a professorship in American Indian Studies at the University of Illinois . Just days before he was to start the role , he got notified that the University had cancelled the offer , as detailed in the section University of Illinois hiring controversy below . In July 2015 , Salaita announced he had accepted the Edward W . Said Chair of American Studies at the American University of Beirut , and would begin his assignment in the fall of 2015 . The university did not renew his position due to some inconsistencies in his hiring . The university stated it was due to procedural irregularities . In 2017 , Salaita announced that he is leaving academia because no institution would hire him for full-time work . As of February 2019 , he is a school bus driver in suburban Washington , D.C . Controversies . Virginia Tech Support our Troops controversy . While teaching at Virginia Tech in 2013 Salaita became the center of controversy after writing an article in which he explained his refusal to endorse the Support our Troops slogan . Salaita stated that In recent years Ive grown fatigued of appeals on behalf of the troops , which intensify in proportion to the belligerence or potential unpopularity of the imperial adventure du jour . He criticized what he called unthinking patriotism . Reactions to his article were varied . Some people wanted him fired , criticizing the university , and some wanted him deported or killed . A university spokesman , Lawrence G . Hincker , Associate Vice President for University Relations , said that the university supported Salaitas freedom of speech , but added : While our assistant professor may have a megaphone on salon.com , his opinions not only do not reflect institutional position , we are confident they do not remotely reflect the collective opinion of the greater university community . Almost 40 Virginia Tech professors signed a letter protesting Hinckers comments in a letter to the student newspaper , the Collegiate Times . Faculty members criticized the universitys statement as wholly unsatisfactory and placing in doubt its commitment to academic freedom . Commenting on Salaitas views and the surrounding controversy , Greg Scholtz , of the American Association of University Professors , noted that [ u ] pholding academic freedom can be a difficult and even embarrassing , but the most reputable institutions give the most latitude . University of Illinois hiring controversy . In October 2013 , Salaita was offered tenure in the American Indian studies program at University of Illinois which he accepted and he was scheduled to begin in August 2014 . In July 2014 , the two-month-long Gaza war broke out in which Israel killed over 2,000 Palestinians and Hamas 73 Israelis . Salaita posted hundreds of tweets criticizing Israel and its actions in Gaza . Some of the tweets angered pro-Israel students , faculty , and others who accused Salaita of antisemitism . Donors threatened to stop donating to the university unless it rescinded Salaitas job offer . University Chancellor Phyllis Wise told Salaita that he wouldnt get the job so he sued the university . During the legal proceedings , the university was forced to release hundreds of email relating to his case which revealed both that Wise had come under immense pressure to rescind Salaitas offer from wealthy donors , and that she had tried to destroy evidence . She therefore resigned from her position as Chancellor . The university settled with Salaita for $875,000 in November 2015 . Salaita wrote about his experience in his book Inter/Nationalism : Decolonizing Native America and Palestine , in which he tackled the controversy from the perspective of decolonizing academic scholarship . He has supported an academic boycott of Israel and is a member of the organization US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel ( USACBI ) . Books . - Anti-Arab Racism in the USA : Where it Comes From and What it Means for Politics ( 2006 ) – Winner of 2007 Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights Outstanding Book Award . - The Holy Land in Transit : Colonialism and the Quest for Canaan ( 2006 ) - Arab American Literary Fictions Cultures and Politics ( 2007 ) - The Uncultured Wars ( 2008 ) - Modern Arab American Fiction : A Readers Guide ( 2011 ) - Israels Dead Soul ( 2011 ) - Uncivil Rites ( 2015 ) - Inter/Nationalism : Decolonizing Native America and Palestine ( 2016 ) External links . - I Am No anti-Semite Says Steven Salaita , Lecturer-cum Celeb Who Was Fired for Tweeting , December 5 , 2014 . Neta Alexander . Haaretz - The holy land in transit : colonialism and the quest for Canaan , PhD dissertation , 2003 . Steven Salaita , University of Oklahoma .