Antisemitism Law Helped Get a Professor Fired for Free Speech, Lawsuit Says
A hardline anti-Islamic Republic group went after a tenured professor for comments about Iran. When that didn’t work, they cited tweets about Israel and Gaza. The post Antisemitism Law Helped Get a Professor Fired for Free Speech, Lawsuit Says appeared first on The Intercept .
Iranian American professor Shirin Saeidi was fired by the University of Arkansas due to social media posts criticizing Israel, according to a lawsuit filed by the professor. The decision to fire Saeidi was supported by a state law that allows universities to lose public funding if they fail to confront antisemitism. The lawsuit claims the law is a restriction on free speech disguised as equal protection.
Saeidi contends she was targeted for her pro-Palestinian views and suffered defamation. She seeks to void her termination, receive back pay, and damages. A lawyer for Saeidi stated that the university feared any mention of the new antisemitism law and wanted to avoid any criticism of it.
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