Despite an online petition and rumors, the president of the American University of Beirut said on Thursday that he did not shut down a search for a new director of the Center for American Studies and Research to block Steven G. Salaita from being named to the position.
One year after his job offer at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was revoked when his anti-Israel tweets drew criticism, Mr. Salaita took a job as the Edward W. Said Chair of American Studies at the American University of Beirut. He was recommended unanimously by a search committee to fill the center’s director position, the petition says.
Last month, however, the search was called off after university administrators complained about conflicts of interest and misconduct during the selection process. Fadlo R. Khuri, the university’s president, said in an emailed statement that the misconduct on the search committee included voting by visiting faculty members and by faculty members with ranks lower than that of the open position.
Still, students circulated an online petition accusing the university of targeting Mr. Salaita for his anti-Israel advocacy.
“We the undersigned, AUB students and allies, contest the wrongful cancellation of the job search,” reads the petition. “We demand that the unanimous recommendation by the CASAR search committee to hire Professor Salaita be respected.”
In his statement, Mr. Khuri said he had met with Mr. Salaita to explain the flawed search and advised him to reapply for a permanent position at the university.
He also denied accusations made in the petition, writing, “There is no truth in the anonymous petition’s suggestion that the search was stopped in order to prevent Dr. Salaita from being selected as CASAR director.”