Embattled US professor who accused Jews of using Holocaust to stifle criticism agrees to resign

By The Associated Press

CHICAGO: A Chicago university professor who has drawn
criticism for accusing some Jews of improperly using
the legacy of the Holocaust agreed Wednesday to resign
immediately "for everybody's sake."

DePaul University officials and political science
professor Norman Finkelstein issued a joint statement
announcing the resignation, which came as about a
hundred protesters gathered outside the dean's office
to support him.

Finkelstein, who is the son of Holocaust survivors,
was denied tenure in June after spending six years on
DePaul's faculty. His remaining class was cut by
DePaul last month.

His most recent book, "Beyond Chutzpah: On the Misuse
of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History," is largely
an attack on Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz's
"The Case for Israel." In his book, Finkelstein argues
that Israel uses perceived anti-Semitism as a weapon
to stifle criticism.

Dershowitz, who threatened to sue Finkelstein's
publisher for libel, urged DePaul officials to reject
Finkelstein's tenure bid.

Finkelstein said in the statement that he believes the
tenure decision was "tainted" by external pressures,
but praised the university's "honorable role of
providing a scholarly haven for me the past six
years."

The school denied that outside parties influenced the
decision to deny Finkelstein tenure. The school's
portion of the statement called Finkelstein "a
prolific scholar and an outstanding teacher."

Finkelstein called that acknowledgment the most
important part of the statement.

"I felt finally I had gotten what was my due and that
maybe it was time, for everybody's sake, that I move
on," he said at a news conference that followed a
morning rally staged by students and faculty who
carried signs and chanted "stop the witch hunt."

Finkelstein said "DePaul students rose to dazzling
spiritual heights in my defense that should be the
envy of and an example for every university in the
United States."

The professor would not discuss financial terms of the
resignation agreement, which he said was confidential,
but noted that it does not bar him from speaking out
about issues that concern him, including "the
unfairness of the tenure process."

He also said he does not know what he will do next,
but came to realize before Wednesday "that the
atmosphere had become so poisoned that it was
virtually impossible for me to carry on at DePaul."

"The least I could hope for is to leave DePaul with my
head up high and my reputation intact."