Talk:Judy Genshaft/Archive 1

Request Edit
I am submitting the following proposed changes in accordance with the directions at Wikipedia's Contact Us page for the subjects of articles or their representatives in the event "an article about you or your organization is incomplete, inaccurate, or biased.." I have a COI as an employee of USF. I will try my best to apply to all Wikipedia policies including regarding conflict of interest. I have been advised and received assistance by User:BC1278 as a paid consultant.

1.   In lead, delete:  “She received $879,506 for the 2015-2016 academic year, ranking her as the 11th highest paid university president in the United States.”

Note: Not one of the most important points about the subject, as per WP: Lead. Move salary info to Career in chronological order. 2.   Change “Early Life and Career” to “Early Life” and create a new section for “Career.” Note: Best practice for BLP is for Early Life and Career to be separate sections, as illustrated by most GA and FA examples. 3.    In “Early Life and Career” section, delete: As her grandparents spoke Yiddish, as a child, she thought all old people spoke Yiddish and was surprised when she heard an older person speak English at a grocery store. Note: Not relevant to bio. Out of context of personal history. Probably intended as anti-Semitic reference.

4.   In “Early Life and Career” move and expand the following to the new “Career” section.

“After graduation, she worked at Ohio State University. She received tenure and full professor rank. She became Dean of Education at University at Albany. After a national search and recommended by the search committee, Hitchcock promoted her to Vice President of Academic Affairs."

New proposed text:

After joining the faculty of the Ohio State University in 1976 as an assistant professor in school psychology, she eventually received tenure and became the department chair. She was chairpersob of the University Senate and led the Department of Educational Services and Research. In 1992, she became dean of the school of Education at University at Albany, State University of New York. She later served as the Vice President of Academic Affairs. She became the provost at the University at Albany in 1997. Note: more precise and better sourced than current sentences about this stage of the subject’s career. 5.   In “Early Life and Career” move the following into “Career” section. Exact language and placement explained in Request Edit 14.

She also served as director of American Momentum Bank. She served as chair of the NCAA Board and the American Council on Education Board.[12]” 6.   In “Career” section, add a new sub-section for “University of South Florida” and delete “President at University of South Florida” as a full section. Note: this is the longest and most significant period of career so merits a sub-section, but still falls within “Career.” 7.   In new  “University of South Florida” section add the following as the first paragraph: Genshaft became the president of USF in July 2000. She said that one of her long-term goals was for USF to match the same academic and research standards as Florida’s flagship schools. Note: Establishes chronological order, the typically the best practice for BLP, as in GA and FAs. 8.   In new “Career” section, insert in chronological order: Genshaft named NFL Hall of Famer Lee Roy Selmon as USF's director of athletics in May 2001. Note: this is a critical position for a university and a high-profile hire covered by RS. 9. In new “Career” section, delete all sub-sub-section headings. Note: All these sub-sub section headings are being used to break the bio out of chronological order. The best practice for BLP “Career” is that it progress in chronological order. 10. Delete “Al-Arian controversy” sub-sub-section heading. Note: doesn’t merit a sub—sub section since “University of South Florida” already a sub-section that makes it seem like this is the most important event in the career of the subject. This is just one of many events in the BLP. NPOV. 11. In “University of South Florida” section about Sami Al-Arian, the following attempts to make the section briefer so it is not WP: Undue and stays within WP: NPOV. Currently reads like an article about the event, not a summary focused on Genshaft for a BLP. a.	Delete first sentence: Following the September 11 attacks, USF professor Sami Al-Arian was interviewed by Bill O'Reilly regarding his connections to Ramadan Shalah, leader of the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine. Note: Paragraph should start with Genshaft’s actions, not interview unrelated to Genshaft. b.	Delete second sentence as: In October 2001, Genshaft placed USF professor Sami Al-Arian on paid administrative leave and prohibited him from entering USF property as a result of campus safety concerns because of his connections to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad,, a U.S. designated terrorist group. Note: Condense event for brevity c.	Edit next sentences as: In 2001, Genshaft and the USF Board of Trustees voted 12-1 to put Sami Al-Arian, a former USF professor later convicted of supporting terrorism and sentenced to 57-months in prison, on paid leave and barred him from teaching at USF. The Faculty Senate and American Association of University Professors condemned Al-Arian’s suspension from teaching as infringing on academic freedom. In 2003, Genshaft and the board fired Al-Arian after he was arrested by the F.B.I. and accused of being the North American leader of U.S.-designated terrorism group Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Note: adds description of who Al Arian is; adds source for claim; deletes dead links, dead sources; edits for style and NPOV. Changes “assault on” to “infringing” to avoid hyperbole. Condenses detail so it’s suitable for BLP,  not an article about this event. d.	Delete: The Faculty Senate President Gregory Paveza condemned firing as underhanded because the professor did not have his side of the story heard. The faculty adviser to the Provost resigned in protest of the firing. United Faculty of Florida, the faculty union representing USF professors, voted to throw its full support behind Al-Arian and condemned the university for exaggerating security concerns until he was arrested by the FBI. Note: Note: these links are dead and the source unavailable online. Language is NPOV problem. Still able to convey faculty protest in previous sentences without adding this granular level of detail about the event itself. This is Genshaft BLP, not an article about the event. 12. Add new sentence, in chronological order: In 2002, Genshaft created an honors college for USF, which had previously only had an honors program. Note: This is a key event in Genshaft’s moving the school toward joining the ranks of the highest-rated Florida universities. 13. Add new sentence, in chronological order: Genshaft fired medical school dean Robert Daugherty in October 2003 after he allegedly violated university rules when he requested that his staff contribute to the campaign of state House Speaker Johnnie Byrd. Note: Another high-profile firing. 14. Add new sentence, in chronological order: During her tenure, she advocated for supporting business growth with academic research and to this end, she served as chairperson of the Tampa Bay Partnership and the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce. She also served as a director of American Momentum Bank. To help raise the university's national profile, Genshaft served as chairperson of the Division I NCAA Board of Directors and of the American Council on Education Board. 15. Add new sentence, in chronological order: The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that from 2000 to 2007, under Genshaft, USF grew federally-funded research 213 percent, at a faster rate than any university in the country 16. Add new sentence, in chronological order: In 2009, Genshaft announced a $600 million fundraising campaign called "Unstoppable." 17. Delete header for sub-sub-section “Presidential salary” and revise text (in chronological order: After 2015, her contract was renewed year-to-year rather than spanning five years. She received $879,506 for the 2015-2016 academic year, ranking her as the 11th highest paid university president in the United States. In March 2017, USF's Board of Trustees voted to provide her with a total compensation package $924,547, including a base salary of $505,837 with 37% of the total package tied to performance. Under Florida law, state funding for the president's salary is capped at $200,000. USF used private funding to make up the difference. Note: all this text is the same as current article, but moves salary information from lead to this paragraph. Deletes duplicate source for same info on ranking. A separate sub-sub section not needed for a routine aspect of her career. 18. Delete header sub-sub section “Relationship with student body”. Not significant enough to warrant a separate sub-header for section. Stylistic changes to text requested: In 2016, a student campaign organized by Students for a Democratic Society failed to persuade Genshaft to change the name of a building named after former U.S. Congressman Bill Young. The students said Young's actions in the Florida Legislative Investigation Committee in the 1960s were homophobic and he supported anti-LGBT policies until his death. Note: IDs Young as congressman. Attributes claims about Young to the protest group. 19. Delete header sub-sub section “Emerging preeminence” Not significant enough to warrant a separate sub-header for section. a.	Substitute this text so it’s directly about Genshaft and place it so it is chronological order -- after the paragraphs about 2017: In 2018, USF met Genshaft's goal, set at the time she became president of the university in 2000, to become a "preeminent" research university, by meeting 11 of the 12 metrics for "full preeminence standard" set by the Florida Board of Governors. Four-year USF graduation rate rates improved from 20% in the early 2000s to 60% in 2018. She also wrapped up the "Unstoppable" fundraising campaigns with $1 billion raised, early in 2018. 20. Delete sub-sub-section header: “Adjunct Faculty Protests”: In 2017, adjunct faculty at USF protested Genshaft and the university for opposing efforts to unionize adjunct faculty. Note: this info is largely “Coatracking.” There were probably many protests on campus during the 19 years Genshaft was president. Extended version might belong in the article about USF. Alternative to shortening the paragraph is to delete it because of Coatracking. 21. Add new sentence, positioned in chronological order: Genshaft asked for the resignation of USF St. Petersburg regional chancellor Sophia Wisniewska because of her management during Hurricane Irma in 2017. Wisniewska implied in an email to Genshaft that that she was still in St. Petersburg, when she had actually left for Atlanta. Wisniewska resigned. Note: another noteworthy firing. 22. Add new sentence, in chronological order: In June 2019, Genshaft and her husband Steve Greenbaum donated $20 million to USF for the construction of a new honors college building. The honors college will be named after her. She announced an additional gift of $3 million that same month to endow a deanship for the honors college. 23. Add new sentence, in chronological order: Genshaft retired as president of USF in July 2019. After retiring as president, she was named president emerita.

24. Rename sub-section “Accolades” as “Recognition” and create a separate section for it, below new section “Recognition” The text below it can remain the same. Note: “Recognition” or “Honors” is more common on BLPs than Accolades. Recognition is not part of ‘Personal Life” or “Career” by logic or by BLP best practices, so should be its own section. 25. In “Personal Life”, delete: She serves on the board of directors of Fresh Mark, an Ohio-based meat producer that was started by Genshaft's father and is currently run by the Genshaft family. Her brother Neil Genshaft is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Fresh Mark. Note: First sentence supported only by an unreliable, UGC source, Glassdoor. That said, even the UGC source doesn’t say she’s on the board, it was started by her father, or that the family currently runs it. Second sentence, about brother is Coatracking. His professional career is not prominent enough to merit mention in her profile. 26. In “Personal Life: section, reword sentence as: She decided not to live in the on-campus president's residence at USF, the 9,000-square-foot Lifsey House. Instead, she lived in the Tampa Palms neighborhood near campus. Note: Stylistic. Also, corrects tense since this refers to her time as USF president, not current.

27. In “Infobox”

Change degree from University of Wisconsin to a B.A. Removed “BSW. ”The article says B.S. in Early Life. Change degree from Kent State to M.A., not an MeD. The second source in “Early Life” from the St. Petersburgh Times, has all her degrees listed properly. Unfortunately, it’s not online. I have a hard copy from the newspaper. Her University of South Florida bio says she has a Masters, not an MeD. https://www.usf.edu/system/about/past-presidents/judy-genshaft.aspx Website is now: https://www.usf.edu/system/about/past-presidents/judy-genshaft.aspx Please change from URL listed there now

Thank very much. 15:32, 11 October 2019 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lightning2019 (talk • contribs) 16:25, 11 October 2019 (UTC)

Reply 12-OCT-2019
Below you will see where proposals from your request have been quoted with reviewer decisions and feedback inserted underneath, either accepting, declining or otherwise commenting upon your proposal(s). Please read the enclosed notes within the proposal review section below for information on each request. Spintendo 16:31, 12 October 2019 (UTC)

Edit request
After joining the faculty of the Ohio State University in 1976 as an assistant professor in school psychology, she eventually became the chair of the Department of Educational Services and Research. She was also chairperson of the University Senate. In 1992, she became dean of the school of Education at University at Albany, State University of New York. She later served as the Vice President of Academic Affairs. She became the provost at the University at Albany in 1997.


 * I have deleted the first citation, as it did not apply here. Since the second source is not online, I will excerpt the relevant passage from the article here:


 * “It began at Ohio State University as an assistant professor in school psychology. By the time she left 16 years later, she was acting associate provost and presidential intern. She also chaired the University Senate and headed the Department of Educational Services and Research. In 1992, she moved to the University at Albany, State University of New York as the dean of the School of Education. Since 1997, she has served as the university provost, which is the school’s chief academic officer.”


 * I have also improved the citation for “Judy Genshaft at USF: 5 more years to finish the job?” as it is no longer available online except as a reprint on another website.  You can find the supporting sentence in the reprint: “She left Columbus in 1992 to become dean of education at New York's University of Albany and quickly gained the trust of its president, Karen Hitchcock, who promoted Genshaft to vice president for academic affairs, the university's top academic office.”

Note 9: Proposed fix:

Following publicity that a tenured USF university professor associated with terrorists and had made inflammatory remarks about Israel, in December 2001, Genshaft and the USF Board of Trustees recommended 12-1 that Sami Al-Arian’s employment be terminated. The Faculty Senate and United Faculty of Florida opposed Al-Arian’s being dismissed as infringing on academic freedom.ref name=”Academe”> Genshaft left Al-Arian on a paid suspension, and barred him from campus, until February 18, 2003, when Genshaft fired him five days after he was arrested by the F.B.I. and charged him with criminal activities relating to international terrorism. as the North American leader of U.S.-designated terrorism group Palestinian Islamic Jihad. - He was later convicted of supporting terrorism and sentenced to 57-months in federal prison


 * Excellent new source found ; a detailed report by the American Association of University Professors about the controversy published in the journal Academe. I’ve tried to summarize the highlights concisely, keeping it focused on Genshaft’s activities, rather than recounting  every event blow-by-blow -- which is already done on the Al Arian bio.


 * I’d propose this be the entire new content about the controversy, replacing the other content, which is less accurate about the events, the chronology and Genshaft’s role.

Note 17

This is reporting on Genshaft’s $20 million gift, which has already been made, not the future creation of the building. The $3 million endowment of the deanship already happened.

The future-looking Crystal Ball sentence from the proposal that should be deleted is: “The honors college will be named after her.”

New language:

In June 2019, Genshaft and her husband Steve Greenbaum donated $20 million to USF for the construction of a new honors college building. She announced an additional gift of $3 million that same month to endow a deanship for the honors college.

Notes 7, 11, 15, 16, 18:

Here is the proposed placement of all the “Career” text, in chronological order:

Career

After joining the faculty of the Ohio State University in 1976 as an assistant professor in school psychology, she eventually became the chair of the Department of Educational Services and Research. She was also chairperson of the University Senate. In 1992, she became dean of the school of Education at University at Albany, State University of New York. She later served as the Vice President of Academic Affairs. She became the provost at the University at Albany in 1997.

President of University of South Florida

Genshaft became the president of USF in July 2000.

She named NFL Hall of Famer Lee Roy Selmon as USF's director of athletics in May 2001.

Following national publicity that tenured USF university professor Sami Al-Arian, later convicted on federal charges of supporting terrorism, associated with terrorists and had made inflammatory remarks about Israel, Genshaft placed him on paid leave for what she described as safety concerns following numerous threats. that Sami Al-Arian’s employment be terminated. The Faculty Senate and United Faculty of Florida opposed Al-Arian’s being dismissed as infringing on academic freedom.ref name=”Academe”> Genshaft left Al-Arian on a paid suspension, and barred him from campus, until February 18, 2003, when Genshaft fired him five days after he was arrested by the F.B.I. and charged him with criminal activities relating to international terrorism. as the North American leader of U.S.-designated terrorism group Palestinian Islamic Jihad. He was later convicted of supporting terrorism and sentenced to 57-months in federal prison

In 2002, Genshaft created an honors college for USF, which had previously only had an honors program.

Genshaft fired medical school dean Robert Daughert in October 2003 after he requested that his staff contribute to the U.S. Senate campaign of state House Speaker Johnnie Byrd.

During her tenure, she advocated for supporting business growth with academic research and to his end, she served as chairwoman of the Tampa Bay Partnership, the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce. She also served as a director of American Momentum Bank. To help raise the university's national profile, Genshaft served as chairwoman of the Division I NCAA Board of Directors and of the American Council on Education Board.

The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that from 2000 to 2007, under Genshaft, USF grew federally-funded research 213 percent, at a faster rate than any university in the country

In 2009, she announced a $600 million fundraising campaign called "Unstoppable."

After 2015, her contract was renewed year-to-year rather than spanning five years. She received $879,506 for the 2015-2016 academic year, ranking her as the 11th highest paid university president in the United States. In March 2017, USF's Board of Trustees voted to provide her with a total compensation package $924,547, including a base salary of $505,837 with 37% of the total package tied to performance. Under Florida law, state funding for the president's salary is capped at $200,000. USF used private funding to make up the difference.

In 2016, a student campaign organized by Students for a Democratic Society failed to persuade Genshaft to change the name of a building named after former U.S. Congressman Bill Young. The students said Young's actions in the Florida Legislative Investigation Committee in the 1960s were homophobic and he supported anti-LGBT policies until his death.

In 2017, adjunct faculty at USF protested Genshaft and the university for opposing efforts to unionize adjunct faculty.

Genshaft removed USF St. Petersburg chancellor Sophia Wisniewska because of her management during Hurricane Irma in 2017. Wisniewska implied in an email to Genshaft that that she was still in St. Petersburg, when she had actually left for Atlanta.

In June 2019, Genshaft and her husband Steve Greenbaum donated $20 million to USF for the construction of a new honors college. She also donated an additional gift of $3 million to endow a deanship for the honors college.

Genshaft retired as president of USF in July 2019.

Lightning2019 (talk) 20:08, 18 November 2019 (UTC)

Reply 18-NOV-2019
Below you will see where proposals from your request have been quoted with reviewer decisions and feedback inserted underneath, either accepting, declining or otherwise commenting upon your proposal(s). Please read the enclosed notes within the proposal review section below for information on each request. Spintendo 01:43, 19 November 2019 (UTC)

Reply - Dec 3
As instructed, here are further details. Thanks for your time.


 * Please delete the last sentence of the second paragraph in “Early Life and Career”:


 * After graduation, she worked at Ohio State University. She received tenure and full professor rank.


 * Please delete the third paragraph in “Early Life and Career”:


 * In 1992, she became dean of the school of Education at the University at Albany. After a national search and recommended by the search committee, Hitchcock promoted her to Vice President of Academic Affairs. She became the provost at the University at Albany in 1997. Genshaft became the president of USF in July 2000. Genshaft named NFL Hall of Famer Lee Roy Selmon as USF's director of athletics in May 2001.


 * Please insert in the place of the previous two deletions, as the new third paragraph of the “Early Life and Career” section of the article:


 * After joining the faculty of the Ohio State University in 1976 as an assistant professor in school psychology, she eventually became the chair of the Department of Educational Services and Research. She was also chairperson of the University Senate.


 * In 1992, she became dean of the school of Education at University at Albany, State University of New York. She later served as the Vice President of Academic Affairs.  She became the provost at the University at Albany in 1997.

Note: This change provides a fuller and more accurate reflection of her career and titles than the two passages I am requesting be deleted. Since the source from the St. Petersbugh Times used above is not online, I will excerpt the relevant passage from the published article here:


 * “It began at Ohio State University as an assistant professor in school psychology. By the time she left 16 years later, she was acting associate provost and presidential intern. She also chaired the University Senate and headed the Department of Educational Services and Research. In 1992, she moved to the University at Albany, State University of New York as the dean of the School of Education. Since 1997, she has served as the university provost, which is the school’s chief academic officer.”

For the citation to “Judy Genshaft at USF: 5 more years to finish the job?” from the Tampa Bay Tribune, only available online except as a reprint on  another website, this is the supporting sentence (9th paragraph under section “Learning from a meatpacker”) : “She left Columbus in 1992 to become dean of education at New York's University of Albany and quickly gained the trust of its president, Karen Hitchcock, who promoted Genshaft to vice president for academic affairs, the university's top academic office.”


 * As instructed in a previous response, an additional authoritative citation has been found and added for the following passage. It is from th journal “Academe” and written from an official investigative report of the American Association of University Professors. I’ve tried to summarize the highlights concisely, keeping it focused on Genshaft’s activities. The current content, under the sub-section “Al Arian Controversy” gets several very important details wrong. For example, as the Academe article makes clear, Al-Arian was not fired during December, 20011. The Board authorized him being fired, but Genshat did not fire him until 2003. Various resolutions are mischaracterized as condemnations, instead of opposition -- as verified by the Academe journal article. The passage also omits the very critical detail that Genshaft did finally fire him in 2003 after he was arrested by the FBI, and later convicted, on terrorism charges.


 * Please delete the all content in sub-section “Al-Arian controversy.”


 * Please replace all of the the following content in the place of th current “Al-Arian controversy”:


 * Following publicity that a tenured USF university professor associated with terrorists and had made inflammatory remarks about Israel, in December 2001, Genshaft and the USF Board of Trustees recommended 12-1 that Sami Al-Arian’s employment be terminated. The Faculty Senate and United Faculty of Florida opposed Al-Arian’s being dismissed as infringing on academic freedom.ref name=”Academe”> Genshaft left Al-Arian on a paid suspension, and barred him from campus, until February 18, 2003, when Genshaft fired him five days after he was arrested by the F.B.I. and charged him with criminal activities relating to international terrorism. as the North American leader of U.S.-designated terrorism group Palestinian Islamic Jihad. - He was  later convicted of supporting terrorism and sentenced to 57-months in federal prison

Thank you! Lightning2019 (talk) 18:35, 3 December 2019 (UTC)

Reply 5-DEC-2019
Regards, Spintendo  12:26, 5 December 2019 (UTC)
 * The St. Petersberg source is not accessible, thus it cannot be determined in which context it was published (as news or an editorial).
 * The information sourced by the Academe reference could not be reviewed because the page parameter has not been activated within the citation template.

Reply Jan. 23 2020
I am taking over as the unpaid representative of Judy Genshaft for the purpose of requesting the correction of errors and updates, as instructed on the “Contact Us” page. I have a personal relationship with Dr. Genshaft. User: Lightning2019 is unable to continue to participate. I will abide by the conflict of interest policy, requesting changes here on Talk for review by independent editors. After consulting with Lightning2019 here is my reply to the issues you have raised above.

1. The Tampa Bay Times article is not an editorial. The author, Stephen Hegarty, is described as a "Times Staff Writer" on the article. You can see in this recent article about him that he was the education reporter for the St. Petersburg Times for 20 years. If there were a way to upload a PDF, I'd be glad to do that. But obviously, there's no requirement that a source be online for free for it to be used on Wikipedia, or most books and academic journals, and many newspapers, could not be used as sources. This article had been available for free online before but now one must go to a paid archive to find it. It is available in the archives at Newspapers.com, which you can join for free for a 7-day trial. Note that the article may be listed as appearing in the Tampa Bay Times which is the current name of the St. Petersburg Times after its merger with the Tampa Tribune.

2. Here are the page numbers in a revised citation for the “Academe” article. In this case, not only does the AAUP website reprint it online in full, but atop the web page, there is a link to download a PDF of the article as it appeared in “Academe.”

Therefore, assuming these responses satisfy your objections, I propose the following from the original requested edit. Replace all content in sub-section “Al-Arian controversy” with this:


 * Following publicity that a tenured USF university professor associated with terrorists and had made inflammatory remarks about Israel, in December 2001, Genshaft and the USF Board of Trustees recommended 12-1 that Sami Al-Arian’s employment be terminated. The Faculty Senate and United Faculty of Florida opposed Al-Arian’s being dismissed as infringing on academic freedom.  Genshaft left Al-Arian on a paid suspension, and barred him from campus, until February 18, 2003, when Genshaft fired him five days after he was arrested by the F.B.I. and charged him with criminal activities relating to international terrorism. as the North American leader of U.S.-designated terrorism group Palestinian Islamic Jihad. He was  later convicted of supporting terrorism and sentenced to 57-months in federal prison

Thanks so much. Rocky.abcd (talk) 20:20, 23 January 2020 (UTC)

Reply 26-JAN-2020
Regards, Spintendo  10:00, 26 January 2020 (UTC)
 * 1) The title of the Hegarty article implies that it may be an editorial, which regular reporters can and do write for their publications. Without the original source to peruse, or even the verbatim text provided as a quote, I'm uncomfortable adding the claims referenced by that source.
 * 2) With regards to the Al-Arian text, the request is to delete the all content in sub-section "Al-Arian controversy." However, the verbatim text to be deleted has not been included with the request.

SUBJECT: Reply to “Reply 26-JAN-2020”

 * To address the second request first:

Please delete:


 * Following the September 11 attacks, USF professor Sami Al-Arian was interviewed by Bill O'Reilly regarding his connections to Ramadan Shalah, leader of the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine. In October 2001, Genshaft placed Al-Arian on paid administrative leave and prohibited him from entering USF property because she believed his presence would compromise campus security. When students and faculty were on leave for winter recess in December 2001, Genshaft and the USF Board of Trustees fired Al-Arian from teaching at USF. The Faculty Senate President Gregory Paveza condemned the firing as underhanded because the professor did not have his side of the story heard. The faculty adviser to the Provost resigned in protest of the firing. The Faculty Senate held an emergency meeting in January 2002 in which they approved a resolution that condemned the firing as an assault to academic freedom. United Faculty of Florida, the faculty union representing USF professors, voted to throw its full support behind Al-Arian and condemned the university for exaggerating security concerns until he was arrested by the FBI.

In its place, please insert:
 * Following publicity that a tenured USF university professor associated with terrorists made inflammatory remarks about Israel, in December 2001, Genshaft and the USF Board of Trustees recommended 12-1 that Sami Al-Arian’s employment be terminated. The Faculty Senate and United Faculty of Florida opposed Al-Arian’s being dismissed as infringing on academic freedom.  Genshaft left Al-Arian on a paid suspension, and barred him from campus, until February 18, 2003, when Genshaft fired him five days after he was arrested by the F.B.I. and charged him with criminal activities relating to international terrorism. as the North American leader of U.S.-designated terrorism group Palestinian Islamic Jihad. He was  later convicted of supporting terrorism and sentenced to 57-months in federal prison

The rationale is stated in the previous request.


 * To address the question as to whether the article in question was news, here is an excerpt from the article. Note that the author is listed as a Times staff writer and that the end of the article has a credit for a second contributor, also a Times staff writer.


 * As mentioned, the Tampa Bay Times can be accessed as part of a 7-day free trial at Newspapers.com. It is in the news section. Beat reporters covering a subject do not write editorials on that same topic at a legitimate news organization.

Genshaft’s Varied Career Helps Make the Grade

The new president has been a professor, provost and school psychologist, all of which should come in handy

By Stephen Hegarty Times Staff Writer

The University of South Florida’s new president has succeeded at every stage of her career, but Judy Genshaft will have to make the jump from second-in-command at a mid-size school to the top job at an institution twice as large.

Genshaft, 52, has had a busy and varied academic career. She has been a school psychologist, a professor and the chief academic officer of a research university. She has quelled academic infighting, raised money, written academic articles, co-edited three books and hosted a radio show.

All this experience should come in handy as she takes the reins of a young, urban university still on the rise - one that hopes to make a reputation as a leading research center during her tenure.

Genshaft was born and reared in Canton, Ohio, the daughter of a meat-packing magnate.

After high school, she entered the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where she graduated in 1969 with a degree in social work and psychology. She then went to work as a psychiatric social worker in Canton.

She continued her education at Kent State, earning a Master’s in school psychology in 1973. During the next three years, she worked as a school psychologist in the Canton schools while earning her doctorate in counseling psychology from Kent State in 1975.

In 1976, Genshaft got started in her career as a university administrator.

It began at Ohio State University as an assistant professor in school psychology. By the time she left 16 years later, she was acting associate provost and presidential intern. She also chaired the University Senate and headed the Department of Educational Services and Research.

In 1992, she moved to the University at Albany, State University of New York as the dean of the School of Education. Since 1997, she has served as the university provost, which is the school’s chief academic officer.

At Albany, she developed a reputation as a high-energy administrator who put in the time and gets the job done - attributes cited repeatedly in the search and interview for the USF job.

Alan Chartock, a communications professor and prominent political commentator in New York, called Genshaft a fighter and stand-up administrator committed to academic excellence.

“Trust me. I’ve been through a lot of college presidents in my time, and there are very few that you can ride the river with. She’s one of them,” Chartock said.

-Staff writer Adam Smith contributed to this report.

The article also contains a box with information comparing USF and Albany SUNY.

Thanks for your consideration. Rocky.abcd (talk) 19:15, 10 February 2020 (UTC)

Reply 10-FEB-2020
Regards, Spintendo  20:40, 10 February 2020 (UTC)
 * 1) Thank you for providing the verbatim text of the source. Based on a read of that text, the proposal is acceptable. However, the verbatim text of the sentences to be added have not been included with this new request. Thus, the proposed text is unknown and cannot be added. Please provide the verbatim text to be added.
 * 2) With regards to the claims involving Sami Al-Arian, reasons have not been provided with this new request.

SUBJECT: Reply to Feb.10, 2020
As asked for above in the reply to the 10-Feb-2020 request, here are the requests again:


 * Please delete the third and final sentence of the second paragraph in “Early Life and Career”:

“After graduation, she worked at Ohio State University. She received tenure and full professor rank.”


 * Please delete the first four sentence of the third paragraph in “Early Life and Career”:

“In 1992, she became dean of the school of Education at the University at Albany. After a national search and recommended by the search committee, Hitchcock promoted her to Vice President of Academic Affairs. She became the provost at the University at Albany in 1997. Genshaft became the president of USF in July 2000. Genshaft named NFL Hall of Famer Lee Roy Selmon as USF's director of athletics in May 2001. ”


 * Please substitute in the place of the previous two deletions, as the new third paragraph of the “Early Life and Career” section of the article:

After joining the faculty of the Ohio State University in 1976 as an assistant professor in school psychology, she eventually became the chair of the Department of Educational Services and Research. She was also chairperson of the University Senate.

In 1992, she became dean of the school of Education at University at Albany, State University of New York. She later served as the Vice President of Academic Affairs. She became the provost at the University at Albany in 1997.

“‘Note:”’

This change provides a fuller and more accurate reflection of her career and titles than the two passages I am requesting be deleted. The relevant passage from St. Petersburgh Times article (the name of the newspaper before it merged with tthe Tampa Bay Times), with the full article excerpted (from the Tampa Bay Times archive) in 26-Jan-2020 Request Edit above, is:

“It began at Ohio State University as an assistant professor in school psychology. By the time she left 16 years later, she was acting associate provost and presidential intern. She also chaired the University Senate and headed the Department of Educational Services and Research.

In 1992, she moved to the University at Albany, State University of New York as the dean of the School of Education. Since 1997, she has served as the university provost, which is the school’s chief academic officer.”

For the citation to “Judy Genshaft at USF: 5 more years to finish the job?” from the Tampa Bay Tribune, this is the supporting sentence (9th paragraph under section “Learning from a meatpacker”) : “She left Columbus in 1992 to become dean of education at New York's University of Albany and quickly gained the trust of its president, Karen Hitchcock, who promoted Genshaft to vice president for academic affairs, the university's top academic office.”

Please delete:


 * Following the September 11 attacks, USF professor Sami Al-Arian was interviewed by Bill O'Reilly regarding his connections to Ramadan Shalah, leader of the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine. In October 2001, Genshaft placed Al-Arian on paid administrative leave and prohibited him from entering USF property because she believed his presence would compromise campus security. When students and faculty were on leave for winter recess in December 2001, Genshaft and the USF Board of Trustees fired Al-Arian from teaching at USF. The Faculty Senate President Gregory Paveza condemned the firing as underhanded because the professor did not have his side of the story heard. The faculty adviser to the Provost resigned in protest of the firing. The Faculty Senate held an emergency meeting in January 2002 in which they approved a resolution that condemned the firing as an assault to academic freedom. United Faculty of Florida, the faculty union representing USF professors, voted to throw its full support behind Al-Arian and condemned the university for exaggerating security concerns until he was arrested by the FBI.

In its place, please insert:


 * Following publicity that a tenured USF university professor associated with terrorists made inflammatory remarks about Israel, in December 2001, Genshaft and the USF Board of Trustees recommended 12-1 that Sami Al-Arian’s employment be terminated. The Faculty Senate and United Faculty of Florida opposed Al-Arian’s being dismissed as infringing on academic freedom.  Genshaft left Al-Arian on a paid suspension, and barred him from campus, until February 18, 2003, when Genshaft fired him five days after he was arrested by the F.B.I. and charged him with criminal activities relating to international terrorism. as the North American leader of U.S.-designated terrorism group Palestinian Islamic Jihad. He was  later convicted of supporting terrorism and sentenced to 57-months in federal prison

“Explanation:”’

Paragraph should start with Genshaft’s actions, not an event involving somene else. Adds description of who Al Arian is; deletes dead links, edits for style and NPOV. Changes “assault on” to “infringing” to avoid hyperbole. Condenses detail so it’s suitable for a BLP of Genshaft and is not an article about this event or Al Arian, as per WP: Undue  Still conveys critcism. Provides an authoritative source for a description of the events, from the academic journal Academe, prepared from a report by American Association of University Professors, as per WP: Reliable.

The current content also gets several facts wrong. As the Academe article makes clear, Al-Arian was not fired during December, 20011. The Board authorized him being fired, but Genshat did not fire him until 2003. Various resolutions are mischaracterized as condemnations, instead of opposition -- as verified by the Academe journal article. The existing passage also omits the critical fact that Genshaft did finally fire him in 2003 after he was arrested by the FBI, and later convicted, on terrorism charges.

Thanks for your consideration. 208.114.100.50 (talk) 13:01, 14 February 2020 (UTC)


 * Thank you again for the clarification, much appreciated. I will carry out the first half of the request, but the second half I have several questions about, so let's begin there. The request asks to remove mention of the Bill O'Reilly interview, with the reasoning stating that the Paragraph should start with Genshaft’s actions, not an event involving somene [sic] else. However, the proposed text does not abide by that reasoning, as it proposes adding to the beginning the very thing which was sought to be removed ("Following publicity that a tenured USF university professor ... made inflammatory remarks...) Please clarify. Regards,  Spintendo  13:34, 14 February 2020 (UTC)
 * In looking at the first half of the request, the timespans for these items are not clear. Please elaborate by giving timeframes for each position. When compared to what is being asked to be removed, that text has clear dates. Here is the text that is proposed to be deleted:"In 1992, she became dean of the school of Education at the University at Albany. She became the provost at the University at Albany in 1997. Genshaft became the president of USF in July 2000. Genshaft named NFL Hall of Famer Lee Roy Selmon as USF's director of athletics in May 2001."I count 3 positions with 3 dates and one assignment with one date. Now here is the proposed replacement text:"After joining the faculty of the Ohio State University in 1976 as an assistant professor in school psychology, she eventually became the chair of the Department of Educational Services and Research. She was also chairperson of the University Senate. In 1992, she became dean of the school of Education at University at Albany, State University of New York. She later served as the Vice President of Academic Affairs. She became the provost at the University at Albany in 1997." 6 positions described and only the 3 dates from the earlier version. This is supposed to be an improvement, yet the proposed replacement text doesn't come close to supplying pro rata the same amount of dates per claims that the current text does. Regards, Spintendo  18:04, 14 February 2020 (UTC)

SUBJECT: Reply to Feb.10, 2020

 * Regarding the phrasing of the first sentence of the proposed new Al Arian section detailed above, this was simply a stylistic choice - Genshaft is the object of the proposed new sentence even though her name is in the second clause. That said, we can reverse the order of the sentence to make it even clearer that the sentence is about her:


 * In December 2001, Genshaft and the USF Board of Trustees recommended 12-1 that the employment of Sami Al-Arian, then a tenured USF university professor, who was later convicted on terrorism charges, be terminated, following televsion publicity that claimed he had associated with terrorists and made inflammatory remarks about Israel.

Please substiutute this sentence as the first sentence of the proposed new section about the Al Arian events.


 * The requested deletetion should have been different. It should not have included the USF presidency or the removal of the athletic director. I can also shorten the requested deletion as the second pargraph in the current article is almost identical to the proposed substitution. Here is the requested deletion, revised:


 * “After graduation, she worked at Ohio State University. She received tenure and full professor rank.

The proposed substitution includes all the content in the deleted text, plus describes other positions she held. Not all of these other positions have dates available in the sources, but the positions are significant in her career path.

Please add as the substitution:


 * She joined the faculty of the Ohio State University in 1976 as an assistant professor in school psychology. She later became the chair of the Department of Educational Services and Research.  She was also chairperson of the University Senate.

Resume the existing article with the sentence beginning:


 * In 1992, she became dean of the school of Education at the University at Albany...

The new version adds the date when she joined Ohio State as an assistant professor. No information is lost. It adds two additional positions at Ohio State not mentioned in the existing article.

Thanks. Rocky.abcd (talk) 19:18, 14 February 2020 (UTC)

Reply 14-FEB-2020

 * 1) Thank you for your reply, although I don't see where the proposed new section for the positions held is above. If you could go back and underline just the proposed added text for me that would be appreciated. Keep in mind that anything without dates will be either (a) not added, or (b) added with a inline template to each instance. I'll let you decide which one you'd prefer to do here.
 * 2) In regards to the other section, I understand that it was a "stylistic choice", but it just struck me as odd that the actual stylistic choice as realized in the proposal did not subscribe to the claimed stylistic choice of minimising mentions of events "involving someone else". Perhaps it is the case that the hoped-for stylistic choice was never really a viable option: as the individual was fired by the subject of the article, the description of that firing must include the reasons why that person was fired. Here, those "someone else's" are necessary to include because they are part of the narrative. The subject fired the individual as a result of the comments made during the interview, so I see no way the description of the firing could be reworded to only show the subject's actions — because logically speaking, a firing always involves two parties. The newest proposal does not differ from the already established text (except it curiously swaps the action [the interview] with the reaction [the firing]) I would prefer them in chronological order. Please advise your thoughts on this. Regards,  Spintendo  23:34, 14 February 2020 (UTC)

Response Feb 21
Hi. In response to “Reply 21-FEB-2020” above.

1) I found a primary source with two of the dates. Since dates of work are usually non-controversial, I thought it might be allowed. I still kept a second citation that establishes she had these positions, but does not give the dates. If the primary source is not acceptable, then your format, with the is the next best choice as a new source might still arise with the dates.

Here is the proposal:

Remove the final (third and fourth) sentence of paragraph two in “Early Life and Career”:

“After graduation, she worked at Ohio State University. She received tenure and full professor rank.”

Please substitute (all of these sentences are new):

She joined the faculty of the Ohio State University in 1976 as an assistant professor in school psychology. She was the chair of the Department of Educational Services and Research at Ohio State from 1987 to 1992. She was chairperson of the Ohio State University Senate from 1990 to 1991.

2). Here is a citation for a sentence that currently lacks one and has “citation needed”. The wording is exactly the same. First sentence of the third paragraph of Early Life and Career section:

In 1992, she became dean of the school of Education at the University at Albany

3). I see your reasoning and think you are correct about the chronological order of the first sentence of the Al-Arian Section. But I do think it’s an improvement to get Genshaft into the first sentence, even if it’s the second clause, following in chronological order. More importantly, Al Arian should be described correctly. The current first sentence only identifies Al-Arian as a university professor. But he was convicted of providing aid to a terrorist organization and was charged by U.S. federal prosecutors with being the American head of the U.S. designated terror group Palestinian Jihad. The description of who he is should include something about this. It’s misleading to describe him just as a professor. Finally, I think the first sentence should assist in condensing this entire section, which should be accurate without becoming a highly detailed recounting of the entire controversy beyond its relevance to this bio. Here is my recommendation for the first sentence, which I suggest you should modify as needed, as going back and forth on precise wording is inefficient:
 * Following national publicity that Sami Al-Arian, a tenured USF university professor who was later convicted of aiding a U.S. designated terrorist group, had closely associated with the leader of U.S. designated terror group Palestinian Jihad and shouted “Death to Israel” during a speech, Genshaft and the USF Board of Trustees recommended 12-1 that his employment be terminated.

This is only the first sentence. The rest of the proposed recommendation above (SUBJECT: Reply to Feb.10, 2020) for the revision of the Al-Arian section remains, as there are several inaccuracies and problems. Thank you. Rocky.abcd (talk) 19:21, 21 February 2020 (UTC)

Thank you for providing the dates, that makes the chronology of her work performed much more accessible. With regards to Al-Arian, the discussion here should be seen as indicative of our belief in the ultimate value of the article itself, and thus well-worth any extra time spent. Please keep in mind WP:COMMUNITY, and that these back and forth discussions help to cast light upon the shadows. When those shadows exist in a Controversy section such as this one, I would think that clarity in the end, would help more than it would hinder.
 * 1) To your point on Al Arian's criminal status being relevant to the beginning of a discussion about him, I would answer that hindsight is 20/20 — at the time he was placed on paid administrative leave, those labels did not apply. The subject of this article was fortuitous in having fired someone who only later was discovered to have committed what the government says were crimes. That fortune shouldn't have effect on the narrative to imply that those crimes were the reason for his paid administrative leave, which is what the proposed language for that section does. The current section describes the events in rough chronological order — the interview, the paid-administrative leave, the reaction to that leave, and the eventual cessation of work. I believe that works the way it is, although I am open to further discussion in order to better see your point of view on this.
 * 2) The other items which supposedly aren't factual, appear to be items which can be read in certain ways: For example, the claim that "The Board authorized him being fired, but Genshat did not fire him until 2003" appears to be a difference in semantics — namely, the Board authorizing the firing of this individual and the subject of the article moving on that authorization — these are two sides to the same coin and not really a factual error. As far as the Various resolutions are mischaracterized as condemnations, instead of opposition, I can't really speak to each resolution's characterization if that characterization is not individually described. Needless to say, opposition and condemnation appear to be very similar concepts, in that, if if one opposes support of something, couldn't it also be said that they condemn support by others. In any event, more discussion on this would be beneficial for shining light upon the shadows, in order to better discover which prose ought to be used in the article. Regards, Spintendo  22:02, 22 February 2020 (UTC)

”Al-Arian Controversy” Proposal
In order to facilitate a community discussion on a proposed revision (listed below) of the sub-section Judy Genshaft, as suggested by Spintendo, I have recapped the major events in detail, leaning heavily on a high quality academic journal article published by American Association of University Professors. The recap shows that Genshaft did not fire Al-Arian during Christmas break in 2001 as the Wikipedia article states. This is a gross error. He remained on paid leave and a tenured faculty member for two more years despite a recommendation of the Board of Trustees and an intent to terminate letter sent by the provost. The reactions detailed on Wikipedia were to the intent to terminate letter, which never took effect. The issue as to whether or not he could and should be fired was hotly contested in various investigations and court actions. Genshaft sought a declaratory judgment from a court in August 2002 asking whether the university could fire him, as a result of his knowingly abetting terrorist activities, without violating his constitutional rights. He was only fired on February 26, 2003, after the FBI arrested him and charged him with conspiracy to commit murder, racketeering, and being the North Amercian leader of a U.S. designated terrorist organization. I have already disclosed above that I have a personal relationship with Genshaft and am advised by BC1278. I am posting request for community input to  Biographies of living persons/Noticeboard.


 * New Wikipedia summary I propose:


 * Following the September 11 attacks, USF professor Sami Al-Arian was interviewed by Bill O'Reilly regarding his connections to Ramadan Shalah, leader of the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine.[11] In October 2001, Genshaft placed Al-Arian on paid administrative leave and prohibited him from entering USF property because she believed his presence would compromise campus security.[12][13]. On Dec. 19, 2001, the USF Board of Trustees voted 12 to 1, that President Genshaft act should dismiss Al-Arian "as quickly as university processes will allow." The next day, the university’s provost sent Al-Arian an intent to terminate for cause letter and gave him 10 days to respond. After requests that he be given more time because of the winter break, Genshaft extended the deadline to January 14.  Both the Faculty Senate and the United Faculty of Florida condemned the proposed termination on grounds of academic freedom. The UFF also said campus security concerns were exaggerated. After his response to the termination letter, Genshaft decided to leave Al-Arian on paid leave while investigations continued. On August 21, 2002, Genshaft announced that USF was filing an action in state court seeking a declaratory judgment as to whether the university could fire Al-Arian and "not violate his constitutional rights." A new notice of intent to terminate was sent to Al-Arian, alleging that he used his faculty position to fundraise "for a terrorist organization… [and] his actions [in fact] helped the illegal actions succeed, thereby aiding and abetting international terrorism, as defined by Title 18 U.S.C. § 2333.”  The court action was dismissed by the judge and Al-Arian remained on paid leave. The FBI arrested Al-Arian on February 26, 2003. The government alleged Al-Arian was the North American leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and had raised funds and organized activities to support the murder of more than 100 people. He was charged with racketeering, conspiracy to commit murder and other terrorism-related offenses. As a result of the arrest and the allegations, Genshaft fired Al-Arian six days later, saying “Dr. Al-Arian’s statements about his activities have been false and misleading and he’s failed to meet our high professional standards. No longer will he be able to hide under the shield of academic freedom.” A spokesman for the American Association of University Professors said it was “deeply regrettable that the administration has moved to reach a prejudgment of charges…” but Dick Beard, a USF trustee said “the board felt like we had a terrorist on our hands.” Al-Arian later pled guilty to providing support to members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and was sentenced to 57 months in prison.

Here is what happened, in more detail:

A.  A September 26, 2001, interview of Professor Al-Arian on the television program The O'Reilly Factor focused on Professor Al-Arian's association with people revealed to be terrorists and inflammatory remarks he had made about Israel over a decade earlier. “The intensity of the public reaction to the O'Reilly interview in the twenty-four hours following its broadcast, with perceived threats to the safety of Professor Al-Arian and others, led to a decision to evacuate the computer science building for the afternoon of September 27 and to place Professor Al-Arian on paid leave pending an investigation of concerns relating to safety.”

B. On December 18, 2001, Genshaft gave the chairman of the Board of Trustees a legal opinion from their attorney “in which he argued that Professor Al-Arian, while engaging in constitutionally protected speech, did so in disregard of "substantial disruption to the university's operations" resulting from that speech, and that he thereby caused harm to his public employer.”

C. On December 19, 2001: “The trustees accordingly voted, by 12 to 1, that President Genshaft act to dismiss Professor Al-Arian "as quickly as university processes will allow."

D. “That same afternoon, Provost Stamps issued a letter to Professor Al-Arian providing "notice of intent to terminate… The provost's December 19 notification informed Professor Al-Arian that he had ten days to respond to the charges.”

E. “President Genshaft, however, acceded to a request from the officers of the USF United Faculty of Florida that the deadline be extended because of the holiday season, and it was set for January 14.”

F. A response on behalf of Al-Arian was filed on January 14 by the attorney for USF Faculty Senate and the United Faculty of Florida.

G. “Prior to that date, the USF Faculty Senate and the UFF both took action opposing the move to dismiss Professor Al-Arian, whose attorney, Mr. Robert F. McKee, responded to the charges on behalf of Al-Arian on January 14. The response provided a rebuttal to each of the charges.”

H. The UFF also said campus security concerns were exaggerated.

I. “‘Genshaft did not fire Al-Arian following his response.”’ “As of the January 29 discussion, however, President Genshaft had not taken any further action on the matter, Professor Al-Arian remained a tenured member of the USF faculty on paid leave of absence, and President Genshaft seemed in no hurry to act.”

J. “At a press conference held on August 21 [2002] she stated that she had come to "believe that Dr. Al-Arian has abused his position at the university and is using academic freedom as a shield to cover improper activities." “‘She announced that USF was initiating litigation in state court against Professor Al-Arian, seeking a declaratory judgment on whether the university could proceed to dismiss him and "not violate his constitutional rights.”’ Attached to the document being submitted to the court was a proposed new notice of intent to dismiss. "This notice," it stated at the outset, "supersedes the notice sent to you on December 19, 2001." The new notice essentially alleged that Professor Al-Arian, beginning in 1988 and continuing through 1995, used his academic position to raise funds "for a terrorist organization… That document alleged that he had engaged in these (and similar) activities: (1) with knowledge of the illegal activities to be conducted by the entities and persons benefiting from his activities; (2) with a desire to help these illegal activities succeed; and (3) his actions [in fact] helped the illegal actions succeed, thereby aiding and abetting international terrorism, as defined by Title 18 U.S.C. § 2333.”

K. “The judge ruled in Professor Al-Arian's favor on December 16, 2002, stating that the issuance of a declaratory judgment "would not be a wise and practical use of judicial resources." She accordingly dismissed the litigation.”

L. Al-Arian remained on paid leave. “With the University of South Florida administration continuing to keep Professor Al-Arian on paid leave, a draft report prepared by the undersigned Association investigating committee was approved by Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure for release to the principal parties in the case and sent to them on February 12, 2003, with an invitation for their corrections and comments.

M. On February 20, 2003 Professor Al-Arian was arrested by the FBI following his indictment by a federal grand jury, charging him and others with criminal activities relating to international terrorism. The government alleged Al Arian was the North American leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and had raised funds and organized activiies to support the murder of more than 100 people. He was charged with racketeering, conspiracy to commit murder and other offenses.

N. In reaction to the arrest, six days later, the administration dismissed him, alleging that he had used his academic position to support terrorism.”

O. “Al-Arian signed a plea agreement April 14 [2006] in which he admitted providing support to members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a State Department-designated terrorist group responsible for hundreds of deaths in Israel and the Palestinian territories.”  He was sentenced to 57 months in prison.

I appreciate the thoughts of other editors.Rocky.abcd (talk)

REQUEST FOR COMMENT RE: Al-Arian controversy
Should the section Al-Arian controversy be replaced?


 * 1) Yes, replace it with the new section suggested below.
 * 2) No.
 * 3) Modify it in a different way.

Rocky.abcd (talk) 18:53, 25 April 2020 (UTC)

Existing language from the article:

Following the September 11 attacks, USF professor Sami Al-Arian was interviewed by Bill O'Reilly regarding his connections to Ramadan Shalah, leader of the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine. In October 2001, Genshaft placed Al-Arian on paid administrative leave and prohibited him from entering USF property because she believed his presence would compromise campus security. When students and faculty were on leave for winter recess in December 2001, Genshaft and the USF Board of Trustees fired Al-Arian from teaching at USF. Faculty Senate President Gregory Paveza condemned the firing as underhanded because the professor did not have his side of the story heard. The faculty adviser to the Provost resigned in protest of the firing. The Faculty Senate held an emergency meeting in January 2002 in which they approved a resolution that condemned the firing as an assault to academic freedom. United Faculty of Florida, the faculty union representing USF professors, voted to throw its full support behind Al-Arian and condemned the university for exaggerating security concerns until he was arrested by the FBI.

Proposed replacement section:

Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, USF professor Sami Al-Arian was interviewed by Bill O'Reilly regarding his connections to Ramadan Shalah, leader of the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine. In October 2001, following bomb threats and the resulting evacuation of a campus building, Genshaft placed Al-Arian on paid administrative leave and prohibited him from entering USF property, saying she believed his presence would compromise campus security. On Dec. 19, 2001, the USF Board of Trustees voted 12 to 1 in favor of a resolution that President Genshaft act should dismiss Al-Arian "as quickly as university processes will allow." The next day, the university’s provost sent Al-Arian an intent to terminate for cause letter. Both the Faculty Senate and the United Faculty of Florida condemned the proposed termination on grounds of academic freedom. The UFF also said campus security concerns were exaggerated. After his response to the termination letter, Genshaft decided to leave Al-Arian on paid leave while investigations continued. The FBI arrested Al-Arian on February 26, 2003. The government alleged Al-Arian was the North American leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and had raised funds and organized activities to support the murder of more than 100 people. He was charged with racketeering and conspiracy to commit murder. Six days later, Genshaft fired Al-Arian. Al-Arian eventually pled down to providing support to members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and was sentenced to 57 months in prison.

Discussion


 * Yes. Please see WP: COI disclosures above. Much of the existing section is severely factually incorrect - there is a comprehensive review of the events produced by the American Association of University Professors, published in the journal “Academe.”  The standard for a WP: BLP is especially high, so any inaccuracies or bias here is particularly problematic.  Severe factual issues with the existing language include: 1) Genshaft did not fire Al-Arian during Christmas break in 2001. He remained on paid leave and a tenured faculty member for two more years despite the recommendation of the Board of Trustees and an "intent to terminate" letter sent by the provost. 2) The faculty reactions detailed on Wikipedia were to the “intent to terminate" letter which never took effect. The issue as to whether or not he could and should be fired was hotly contested in various investigations and court actions. He remained on the faculty until he was fired by Genshaft on February 26, 2003, after the FBI arrested him and charged him with conspiracy to commit murder, racketeering, and being the North American leader of a U.S. designated terrorist organization. You can find more details here: Talk:Judy Genshaft. Rocky.abcd (talk) 18:53, 25 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Support per nom. ~ HAL  333  20:03, 3 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Yes. The proposed wording looks good, while the current wording is quite incomplete: it doesn't even say why he was arrested. Korny O&#39;Near (talk) 20:20, 21 May 2020 (UTC)

Consensus here is unanimous and it's been more than 30 days since the RfC posted. Would one of you be nice enough to close the RfC, WP:RFCCLOSE, and implement the edit? I have a COI, as disclosed above, and should not be the one to directly edit the article. Many thanks. Rocky.abcd (talk) 15:58, 28 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Okay, I've never closed an RfC before, but here goes... Korny O&#39;Near (talk) 17:16, 28 May 2020 (UTC)

Please help improve the format of this article
I’d like to propose substantially improving the structure and format of this article so it is more like a good Wikipedia biography. As I have already declared above, I have a conflict of interest as someone with a personal relationship with Genshaft. I would very much appreciate it therefore if an independent editor(s) would review these suggestions. None of these suggestions add, change or delete content -- they are all just to dramatically improve the format. As a reference, I have created a sandbox with all the proposed changes here: User:Rocky.abcd/sandbox

1. I propose moving the content about Genshaft’s “Early life and education” into one section and her “Career” into another section, arranged in chronological order. That’s how most Good Article-rated bios seems to do it. Here is a Good Article educator bio, by way of example: Ethel McGhee Davis

a. To accomplish this, please change the title of the section “”Early life and career” to “Early life and education.”

b. Then, create a new section called “Career” immediately below the language of “Early life and education.”

c. Then, move the following paragraphs from the current “Early life and career” section into the new “Career” section. These will have to be arranged chronologically, which I will describe afterwards, Beginning with the third sentence of paragraph two:

She joined the faculty of Ohio State University in 1976 as an assistant professor in school psychology. She was the chair of the Department of Educational Services and Research at Ohio State from 1987 to 1992, and was the chair of OSU's senate from 1990 to 1991.

In 1992, she became dean of the school of Education at the University at Albany. After a national search and recommended by the search committee, Hitchcock promoted her to Vice President of Academic Affairs. She became the provost at the University at Albany in 1997.

Note that the content in the second paragraph beginning “Genshaft became the president of USF…” should not be moved just yet.

d. Please change “She” in the first sentence of the new first paragraph of “Career” (“”She joined the faculty...”) to “Genshaft.”

e. Please change “President at University of South Florida” from a full section into a sub-section of “Career.”

f. In the new sub-section about her tenure as president of USF, please move the following content, currently in the “Early life and career” section (starting in the fourth sentence of the paragraph that begins “In 1992, she became dean of the school...”

Genshaft became the president of USF in July 2000. Genshaft named NFL Hall of Famer Lee Roy Selmon as USF's director of athletics in May 2001.

She also served as director of American Momentum Bank. She served as chair of the NCAA Board and the American Council on Education Board.

2. As you can see by combining the content about her time as president of USF currently separated into two sections (“Early Life and career” and “President of University of South Florida”, the content is not in chronological order and, it is broken up with too many unnecessary sub-sections.   So  my next suggestion is to put the content into rough chronological order and to remove all the sub-sections under ““President of University of South Florida.”

a. Break this sentence into its own paragraph: “Genshaft named NFL Hall of Famer Lee Roy Selmon as USF's director of athletics in May 2001. ”

b. Move the following paragraph from the “Early life and career section” into chronological order - it will be placed after the last paragraph in the current “President of University of South Florida” sub-section:

In June 2019, Genshaft and her husband donated $20 million to USF for the construction of a new honors college. She also donated $3 million to endow a deanship for the honors college.

c. I propose flipping the paragraph beginning “In 2018, USF met 11 of the 12 metrics…” with the paragraph beginning “Adjunct faculty professors launched Faculty Forward, a campaign to unionize adjuncts.”  This will put them in chronological order.

d. I’d strongly suggest removing all the current sub-sections under ““President of University of South Florida” as not every incident in her career merits a sub-section. It doesn’t flow very well with all these choppy sub-sections reflecting specific incidents, instead of stages in her career. Based on my review of Good Articles this is is more in line with good Wikipedia bios.

e. Move the following paragraph from the “Early life and career” section into a full new section, called “Boards” under the section “Career”:

Genshaft also served as director of American Momentum Bank. She served as chair of the NCAA Board and the American Council on Education Board.<ref name=":3" /.

Note that I have suggested changing “She” to “Genshaft” to begin the sentence.

f. Please change the sub-section “Accoloades” under the section “Personal life” into its own section and flip it so it is on top of the “Personal life”

The accolades are all related to Genshaft’s professional life, not her personal life, so these should not be a sub-section of “Personal life.”

Please reach out if there are questions, or I can help in any way. Thank you for your assistance. Rocky.abcd (talk) 18:19, 25 June 2020 (UTC)
 * That's a lot of requested edits! I did 2 e and 2f. I deleted the metrics section you mention under 2c as it sounds like a resume advertisement. For the controversies sections under USF mentioned in 2d, I left those as I think they have some value, and removing such things can sometimes be seen as santizing. They seem to be well sourced.ThatMontrealIP (talk) 19:19, 25 June 2020 (UTC)
 * I've also put all the USF material into the "President at USF" section, per the requests 2A and 2B above. I'va also done more or less what you requested in 1a,b and d. So this should answer all of of the 1a,b and d and 2a,b,c,d,e, and f requests. it's a lot of requests. ThatMontrealIP (talk) 19:23, 25 June 2020 (UTC)


 * Thank you for your help! Just wanted to clarify that the request is just to get rid of the all those titles of sub-sections, not the content! That way it will read like a typical career section. It doesn't seem to me to be a very good format now, where every single topic, from salary to a donation to an adjunct faculty protest gets it own title. Here's how it looks without all the sub-titles:   To expand this article in the current format, every single new topic will have to have its own titled sub-section. That's why I wanted to see if the format could  be improved before suggesting any more substantive changes. Thanks! Rocky.abcd (talk) 19:46, 25 June 2020 (UTC)
 * I'm not going to touch those. See, for example the RFC above. Perhaps another editor will help you there. The sections do tend to emphasize the controversies rather than the overall tenure. Also, I forgot to ask if you have any financial stake in these edits-- i.e. paid to suggest them or are an employee and this is one of the jobs. ThatMontrealIP (talk) 20:03, 25 June 2020 (UTC)
 * Thanks. I hope someone else will look at the remaining requests. As I said above, I have a personal relationship with Genshaft, which is why I'm not just making these fixes myself. She doesn't pay me. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rocky.abcd (talk • contribs)
 * thanks, but you did not answer whether you are connected to USF by direct or contract employment or are doing this in some other professional or paid capacity. Please be blunt and clear about it. ThatMontrealIP (talk) 20:45, 25 June 2020 (UTC)