University staff angry at Ramadan sacking
Monday 24 August 2009
A number of Erasmus University officials have protested at the way the university joined forces with Rotterdam city council to sack Tariq Ramadan, an expert on Islam and identity who was a guest lecturer for the past few years.
Ramadan was sacked by Erasmus and from his advisory job at the city council because of his involvement with an Iranian tv programme.
But in acting in tandem with the council, Rotterdam acted ‘against academic freedom’ and had been used by politicians, the academics say in a letter in Saturday’s NRC.
‘It is a politicial decision and we are shocked about it,’ economics professor Arjo Klamer said. Professors can only be sacked if they are suspected of commiting a crime, fail to turn up to do their job or damage the university’s reputation, he said.
Klamer points out in Monday’s Volkskrant that Ramadan is a professor of contemporary Islamic studies at Oxford University where ‘freedom of speech is a fundamental right’.
A spokesman for Erasmus told the paper the university authorities might respond to the allegations on Monday.
Ramadan’s professorship at Erasmus was funded by the city council and his contract was with the city authorities, not the university itself, Ramadan told the Volkskrant in a telephone interview from Morocco.
SOURCE : DutchNews.nl
I cannot believe the reaction by the Erasmus University along with anyone else who has anything againts Mr Ramadan being on Press TV . It is a news chanel (!) Would Erasmus sack one of their professors if they went on Korean tv? To make a connection between a television programme based on debate of contemporary issues to the government that rules the land which is based in, is absurd and outright dispicable!
It’s a mistake. The university’s prestige will suffer, and so will NL’s. I already feel we are missing something
Professor Ramadan will be vindicated in this matter, inshaAllah. The accusations of homophobia and discrimination against women earlier this year were investigated and proved to be false. The revocation of his visa by the US government has been shown to have been on false grounds. And so, with time, and by the Grace of God, he will be vindicated in this matter also. It will take time. In the meantime we are with him, we pray for him, we support him. May God also help him and give him strength to withstand, and to continue to work for the good of this world.
it’s not only the academics at Erasmus that are flabbergasted by this decision:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203706604574373231302108684.html
we’re here with you, Tariq… “la takhaff, inna Allah ma’ana”
Salaams Brother Tarik,
I am very saddened to hear of your sacking. Inshallah Allah has better plans for you for this is the month of ramadhan.
If you need any assistance please feel free but I will pray that Allah finds you something better for you deserve it for the benefits that you by the mercy of Allah has given the wider community.
Wa salaam,
Sohale
Its a shame for such a prestigious Uni like Erasmus to join hands with the Municipality to sack Brother Tariq. What an unbecoming attitude from them!!! The association of Tariq Ramadan’s hosting Islam&Life on PressTv with the Iranian Regime by the anti-Ramadan is absurd and cannot be proven simply coz it is an imaginative one and is not based on proved evidences. Such a highly-reputed Uni cannot fall low like this. Where has the famous ‘freedom of expression’ gone? It seems that the anti-Islam propaganda is going on in the most horrible way as those behind this strategy has succeeded in infiltrating the academics, the intellectuals, the think-tank which is the basis of the success of a nation. Tariq will Insha Allah be washed of all these false and malicious allegations as he is not a Teheran-Man as the plotters, the zionists tend to make the world believe so.
Ziyaad, Mauritius