While Steven G. Salaita’s inflammatory, anti-Israel, anti-Semitic Twitter posts and atrocious academic record may have cost him a tenured professorship at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), they did nothing to lessen his support from the field of Middle East studies.  The former Virginia Tech University English professor – whose published work focuses on the Arab-Israeli conflict – was offered a position in UIUC’s American Indian Studies Program that was later rescinded by Chancellor Phyllis Wise.  Salaita’s academic apologists immediately sprang into action, with antagonism to Israel’s recent military action against Hamas only adding to the frenzy. A number of petitions, open letters, and statements calling to reinstate or show solidarity with Salaita made the rounds, all displaying similar characteristics. Among them was a statement issued by the executive committee for the Center for South Asian and Middle...(Read Full Article)