DePaul Professor Who Wrote Anti-Palestinian Article, Was Censured by Faculty Council, Loses Contract, Defamation, and Discrimination Claim
From Hill v. DePaul Univ., which was decided in September by the Illinois Appellate Court (Justice Martin, joined by Justices Rochford and Hoffman) but which I missed at the time:
Jason Hill is a tenured professor of philosophy at DePaul University in Chicago. Professor Hill authored an article, which he describes as an “op-ed,” that appeared in the online publication The Federalist in April 2019 titled “The Moral Case for Israel Annexing the West Bank – and Beyond.” The article noted that Benjamin Netanyahu had been recently elected to a fifth term as Israeli prime minister, having campaigned on a promise to “annex Jewish settlements in occupied Palestinian territories.” Professor Hill wrote that the election victory “will, hopefully, see the enactment of Netanyahu’s promise.” He went on to argue that “Israel has the moral right to annex all of the West Bank *** for a plethora of reasons.” The article contains the following subheadings: (1) “Israel’s Mistake Was Allowing the Palestinian Pretense,” (2) “The Palestinian Authority is a Terrible Government,” (3) “Israel Has Every Right to Defeat Terrorists,” and (4) “Why Palestinians Have No Moral Authority.” Among Professor Hill’s opinions, he wrote:
“Not all cultures are indeed equal. Some are abysmally inferior and regressive *** a strong argument can and ought to be made to strip Palestinians of their right to vote—period *** They constitute a national security threat to Israel because a core feature of their identify is a commitment to destroying Israel as a Jewish state *** only a policy of radical containment or expulsion remains a viable option.”
A note printed below the article stated, “Jason D. Hill is honors distinguished professor of philosophy at DePaul University in Chicago.”
Two weeks following the publication of Professor Hill’s article, Dr. Paeth [President of DePaul’s Faculty Council] drafted a resolution titled “Faculty Council Resolution on Academic Freedom and Responsibility,” which contained statements critical of Professor Hill’s article while also acknowledging Professor Hill’s academic freedom to publish it. A copy of the draft resolution appeared by hyperlink in conjunction with an article in DePaul’s online student newspaper The DePaulia on April 30, 2019. The next day, Dr. Paeth presented the resolution to the Faculty Council for consideration. Following discussion, the Faculty Council voted 21 to 10 to approve the resolution with amendments that removed some language from the original draft. An article regarding the approved resolution appeared in The DePaulia on May 6, 2019. The article provided a link to the original draft resolution that did not reflect the amendments approved by the Faculty Council.
The preamble of the resolution asserts that Professor Hill’s article (1) “misrepresents the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” (2) “distorts the facts about the curren
Article from Reason.com
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