The Chronicle of Higher Ed’s reporting on Finkelstein’s tenure denial is well-rounded. Here are the first five grafs:
Norman G. Finkelstein, the controversial political scientist who has been engaged in a public battle for tenure at DePaul University, learned on Friday that he had lost that fight. In a written statement, the university confirmed that Mr. Finkelstein had been denied tenure.
Mr. Finkelstein has inspired heated debate with his writings and commentary on such highly charged topics as the Israel-Palestine conflict and what he has termed “the Holocaust industry,” and has sparred publicly over such issues with Alan M. Dershowitz, a professor of law at Harvard University. Last fall, Mr. Dershowitz sent members of DePaul’s law and political-science faculties what he described as “a dossier of Norman Finkelstein’s most egregious academic sins, and especially his outright lies, misquotations, and distortions” (The Chronicle, April 5).
Mr. Finkelstein’s departmental committee voted 9 to 3 in support of granting him tenure, and a five-member college-level personnel committee then voted unanimously in favor of tenure. But the dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences wrote a memorandum recommending against it, and the University Board on Promotion and Tenure then voted not to grant tenure.
The final decision rested with the university’s president, the Rev. Dennis H. Holtschneider, who said in a three-page letter sent to Mr. Finkelstein on Friday that he had found “no compelling reasons to overturn” the tenure board’s recommendation.
An electronic copy of the letter has now been posted on Mr. Finkelstein’s Web site.