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http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/09/05/america/NA-GEN-US-Controversial-Professor.php

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

The Associated Press
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
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."

Dershowitz was critical of the school. "DePaul looks like they caved
into pressure," he said in a telephone interview. "The idea of
describing him as a scholar trades truth for convenience. He's a man
who is a propagandist and is not a scholar."

Still, Dershowitz said, "I'm happy he's out of academia. Let him do
his ranting on street corners."