Fired Professor Sues to Overturn Anti-Semitism Law

A former political science lecturer at the University of Arkansas, Dr. Shirin Saeidi, who was fired after praising former Iranian leader Ali Khamenei and calling for Israel's dismantling, is suing to overturn a state law aimed at combating anti-Semitism. Saeidi, who previously headed the university's Middle East Studies Center, claims the law was used as a pretext for her dismissal due to her views on Israel. She is seeking reinstatement and compensation.

Saeidi, an Iran native, had posted on X that Israel is a "terrorist state committing genocide" that "should be dismantled by international forces." She also praised Khamenei, who was killed in late February, for "keeping Iran whole during the Israeli attack." The university's dean of faculty informed her that her personal publications damaged the credibility of the center and its ability to serve Jewish and Israeli students.

Previously, Saeidi had used official university letterhead to submit a statement to a Swedish court in defense of Hamid Nouri, an Iranian prison official convicted of mass executions in 1988. The university reprimanded her for this unauthorized use of its name. Saeidi's academic work at Cambridge University, where she earned her doctorate, is also under review, with former political prisoners alleging misrepresentation of their accounts in her research.

In December, Saeidi shared a post calling to "stick the dagger from Doha into the throats of the Zionists," which she later claimed was not intended to incite violence. The university rejected this explanation, stating that Saeidi did not clarify her opposition to violence against "Zionists" in the post itself. This led to proceedings to terminate her tenured position.

The law Saeidi seeks to overturn, enacted in 2025, requires Arkansas educational institutions to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's working definition of anti-Semitism, including examples related to criticism of Israel. It encourages lawmakers to consider budget cuts for institutions that do not adequately address complaints. Saeidi argues the definition is vague and criminalizes opinions about Israel, while the law explicitly states that criticism of Israel, like that of any other country, is not anti-Semitism and does not infringe on free speech rights.

An internal university investigation found no violation of its anti-Semitism policy, and a faculty committee unanimously recommended Saeidi's reinstatement, stating that even offensive statements are not necessarily grounds for dismissing a tenured professor. However, the university president rejected this recommendation in March, citing concerns about losing public funding if the institution's response to anti-Semitism was deemed insufficient. Saeidi described the denial of her tenure as "academic death penalty."