Posted on 12/21/2003 11:57:46 AM PST by JulieRNR21
TAMPA - Betty Castor's tenure as president of the University of South Florida is a major building block as she assembles support in her run for the U.S. Senate. But one episode in that presidency could come back to bite the candidate: Castor's handling of the case of Sami Al-Arian, the former professor accused of operating a support cell for Palestinian terrorists while at USF.
Castor essentially left the matter up to law enforcement, choosing not to challenge Al-Arian in light of the twin employment protections of a union contract and academic freedom. Her administration's stance was controversial.
So far, early in the campaign, Castor's Democratic primary rivals and Republicans in the race have not tried to use the issue against her publicly.
And a number of interviews with people who were concerned and knowledgeable about the case in the mid-1990s - USF faculty and regional or statewide Jewish leaders - uncovered little or no inclination to blame Castor for any failures.
``I think she did the best that she could do under the circumstances, and I'm a big supporter of Betty,'' said Stephen Bragin of Clearwater, a retired businessman and USF fundraiser who, at the time, led a delegation of Jewish leaders to discuss the issue with university officials.
Some Republicans, however, say the issue could provide ammunition for attack ads. They draw bold lines even though Al-Arian has not been convicted of any crime.
``I absolutely think her using academic freedom as an excuse'' will be a campaign issue, said Rick Wilson, a Republican consultant in Tallahassee and Washington. ``I'd tie it to her like an anchor.''
Republicans aren't unanimous about that. Strategists for two GOP Senate candidates, state Sen. Daniel Webster of Winter Garden and former U.S. Rep. Bill McCollum of Longwood, said they don't know enough about the case to talk.
Geoffrey Becker, the state party's executive director, called it ``a little obscure'' but said he believes Castor ``stood by the sidelines as the case unfolded, and left it to the current president'' to act.
The current president, Judy Genshaft, who has Republican ties, fired Al-Arian - but only after he was indicted this year. Genshaft treated the case as an employment issue, and sought unsuccessfully to get court approval to fire the tenured professor before the federal indictment.
Republicans have other reasons to tread cautiously on the issue: President Bush has a history with Al-Arian.
In 2000, well after Castor left USF, the Bush campaign actively courted Muslim voters, and Bush was photographed with Al-Arian at the Florida Strawberry Festival in Plant City.
In 2001, Al-Arian attended a meeting in the White House complex with senior presidential adviser Karl Rove and Abdurahman Alamoudi, later charged with laundering money from Libya.
In a recent interview, Castor said voters don't bring the issue up to her. But she's using it as an example of what she sees as national security failings.
``It is an example of a large issue, the inability of our domestic intelligence agencies to work together in a timely way,'' she said. If there had been more intelligence sharing, authorities ``would have found out more about [Al-Arian] sooner.''
Castor, a former state education commissioner, portrays the episode as a qualification for higher office.
``I'm probably one of the few people who has had to deal firsthand with this kind of situation,'' she said.
`Very Difficult For Her'
After 1995 reports in The Tampa Tribune linked Al-Arian to the terrorist Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Castor said, her administration ``reached out to the FBI and the U.S. Justice Department and tried to get the kind of investigative information that would enable us to remove this person permanently.''
It didn't happen, acknowledged Al Robinson of Palm Harbor, then the FBI's regional special agent in Tampa.
``We weren't at liberty to tell her whether we had any actions pending or in the near future,'' said Robinson, who describes himself as politically neutral. ``It made it very difficult for her.''
USF had hired Al-Arian to teach computer science eight years before Castor arrived in 1994. It also had made academic agreements with a think tank he founded: World Islam Studies Enterprise. WISE shared key officers, a postal box and work space with an organization later identified by law enforcement as an Islamic Jihad fundraising front.
When a Public Broadcasting Service documentary and the Tribune focused on the case, debate exploded. Some Muslims, USF faculty and other news organizations accused the Tribune of bias and sensationalism. Other people pressed for action against Al-Arian.
Castor maintains she ``took aggressive action.'' She wound up suspending Al-Arian with pay for two years on grounds of campus safety. She also suspended USF's relationship with WISE and changed policy for similar academic agreements.
But USF made no immediate attempt to research or confirm the links described in the news reports, and the prominent lawyer Castor hired to look into the case, William Reece Smith, was a former interim president of USF. Al-Arian would not be interviewed by Smith, and Castor acknowledged USF never questioned him about the news reports.
`Concerned With Public Relations'
Smith found no wrongdoing by USF other than mild blunders in its relationship with WISE. He also wrote that he found no evidence ``anybody was supportive of or engaged in unlawful or terrorist activity.''
Jacob Neusner, then a distinguished research professor in Judaic studies at USF, was among those who criticized the school's response.
``The university has not been candid,'' Neusner said in 1995. ``It was more concerned with public relations than honesty. It allowed itself to be deceived, and then, when confronted, it defended that deception.''
Castor countered that she had no legal grounds to fire a man who had not been charged with a crime, even after a former WISE director became head of the Islamic Jihad in Syria. Al- Arian's speech and employment were protected, she said; in fact, her early public reaction to the case included a statement defending the principle of academic freedom.
Al-Arian collected a public salary and taught off and on at USF until this year. Even when he was indicted, and Genshaft fired him, USF nearly was censured by the American Association of University Professors - a punishment that can hurt a school's academic reputation.
Castor, who had arrived amid faculty skepticism because her career had been mostly in politics, may have been even more wary than others about any perception she didn't care about such academic concerns.
Asked whether she wishes she had handled it differently, she said: ``We were dealing with circumstances at the time. The system was flawed and failed us. I often felt my hands were simply tied.''
`Don't Think It's An Issue'
Today, many Florida Jewish leaders - mostly Democrats - say Castor had no solid grounds for stronger action.
``I don't think it's an issue. One can't do more than the federal authorities will allow,'' said former state Rep. Elaine Bloom of Miami Beach, who said she's neutral in her party's primary race to succeed retiring Sen. Bob Graham, D-Miami Lakes.
Many USF faculty members sided with Al-Arian for years on the grounds of academic freedom, so they supported Castor's decision to leave the matter to law enforcement.
Even some faculty who were concerned about Al-Arian then, including criminologist Mitch Silverman and psychologist Carnot Nelson, then president of Rodeph Shalom synagogue, don't blame Castor today.
``The FBI was in the middle of all this, and I don't know what constraints were placed on her,'' Silverman said.
U.S. Rep. Peter Deutsch of Pembroke Pines, a Castor rival in the primary who has strong support among South Florida's Jewish Democrats, said he hasn't brought the issue up and doesn't plan to do so.
But voters have brought it up to him, Deutsch said: ``I have no idea whether it will be an issue.''
Some predict Castor can expect to confront the issue eventually.
``I've heard it from media folks, political junkies and candidates,'' said political scientist Darryl Paulson of USF. ``If they're raising it, it's going to be publicly raised.''
She thinks the experience from this "episode" qualifies her for higher office. Hah......talk about trying to make lemonade out of a lemon. Pure Clinton-speak, of course.
She was too PC and liberal/chicken to take a firm grip on the Sami affair although it had "cell" written all over it.
If she throws her hat into the ring, I hope we never let her shuffle this "episode" under some prayer carpet somewhere.
Yep...she apparently does...and don't forget that important endorsement she got from Janet Reno....LOL
Actually, from my "Northern perspective", I kind of like Katherine! And she's already said she won't vie for the Senate nomination, so perhaps she's not that "egomaniacal"...! ;)
Bob Smith (formerly of New Hampshire), OTOH...what a maroon!!!
However, had he walked into the office and said to a female office worker..."Good morning, honey" he would have been out of there before lunch.
One of the reasons I favor Harris is her ability to raise funds. JEB and the Republican Party of Florida's "All JEB, All the Time" policy has made it difficult for other candidates to get the funding necessary from the RPOF to really press their advantage in the general election. In 1998, for example, Charlie Crist had less than $1.5 million for his Senate race against Bob Graham, who spent $5 million. In contrast, Bill McCollum had $8.6 million to spend in 2000 when he was selected by JEB. Bill Nelson spent $6.5 million to defeat McCollum.
Thanks for staying up on things at the State level . I dont know much about this woman but what I see here in the article she does 'nt bring anything to the table .
I'll have to check her out . I see some Rats seem to think she has no baggage with the now famous case so I surely have some doubts about her , but I shall look into her and keep an eye open .
Glad to see that YOU can put aside those petty differences and tell us who to vote for
Maybe, just maybe, we can put something together to allow the Florida republicans to choose the candidate. Maybe we can call it a primary?
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