In 1980, a synagogue in Paris’s 16th arrondissement was bombed in a terrorist attack. Blamed on the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-Special Operation, it killed three Frenchmen and an Israeli woman, while wounding twenty others. (The French Prime Minster at the time of the attack, Raymond Barre, made a comment to the effect that the bomb was targeting Jews and instead killed innocent Frenchmen…)

In 2008, Hassan Diab, a Canadian university professor of Lebanese birth, was arrested in connection with the bombings. He had taught courses at the University of Ottawa and at the time was a sociology professor at Carleton. After his arrest he was released on bail with special conditions that would allow him to continue to teach. His extradition to France is currently working its way through the courts, and has been described by a judge as ‘far from a sure thing’.

After his arrest he was once again hired by Carleton to teach a summer sociology course. He is not a tenured professor, and I believe hired on and off on a part-time basis. Carleton had no obligation to hire Mr. Diab, but did so because he was the most senior and qualified applicant, and his application was appropriately vetted and supported by the dean of arts and social sciences, as well as higher university staff.

Shortly after the news of his hiring came to light, Jewish service organization B’nai Brith released a press release condemning the university’s actions. (My very first minor hockey team was sponsored by B’nai Brith. I was five and we wore San Jose teal, and I was not too concerned about the politics of it all. I probably still have the jersey.) There has been speculation that Jewish donors were threatening to withdraw funding were Diab not fired. Whether that aspect is true or not, shortly afterwards Diab was abruptly let go from his position and he was replaced in the classroom. There are now calls from Carleton professors and the Canadian Association of University Teachers to reinstate Diab, as he has not been convicted of anything, and is innocent until proven guilty. There are serious questions pertaining to his involvement in the bombing, and he claims he was not even in Paris at the time.

To me this represents a difficult case, from a couple of different angles. First, should Carleton have hired him back at all in the first place? Is being charged with terrorism and murder a reasonable restriction of teaching at a university? Surely there must have been other qualified applicants who were not charged with murder. And does it make a difference because it is a university, where the professor would have the potential to influence the minds of impressionable young students? There have been no reports that he was any kind of ideologue, and in fact the opposite has been said. And in this country one is innocent until proven guilty, and he did not pose any physical threat to the students or the institution. So my thinking on this is that it was an odd choice, and perhaps not the best choice, but it is one that Carleton should be able to make once the judge set the bail conditions that allowed him to continue his practice.

The second issue arises with his firing, and the motives behind it. While Carleton surely faced large amounts of backlash over their decision, the reports suggest that they reversed it due to condemnation from B’nai Brith. A Jewish organization, B’nai Brith was likely opposed to the bombing being a Palestinian attack on a Jewish target, rather than an attack on human life. I doubt B’nai Brith would have spoken up had the accused been a Fenian blowing up Belfast. And maybe that’s okay. I wouldn’t expect B’nai Brith to step in in that case. The Troublesing part is that Carleton bowed to that pressure and reversed a decision that had been approved by the law and by the sociology department and faculty. (A Troubles pun! Hurrah!) Outside interest groups should not hold sway in the hiring and firing of professors, especially not in a university setting where young minds are learning about the world and where positive conflict and thought is encouraged. Diab had been an upstanding professor for many years, doing a good job without reports of radical ideology in the classroom, and has denied his involvement in a thirty-year-old crime he has not been convicted of.

I’m sure people will disagree with me. I would agree that it’s certainly not unreasonable to hold the belief that a university classroom is no place for an accused terrorist. I don’t necessarily disagree with that myself. I just contend that it’s either okay or it’s not okay, regardless of the politics behind the attack. And for that, Carleton was wrong to fire Hassan Diab.

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Tags: carlteon university, hassan diab, Terrorism

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 20th, 2009 at 10:45 pm and is filed under Education, Terrorism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.