From: "Pedro Martori"
Newsgroups: alt.politics.org.fbi,alt.politics.republicans,miami.general,soc.culture.aust
Subject: JUDICIAL WATCH SUES THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS OVER CUBAN-AMERICAN PROFESSOR FI
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Date: Sat, 2 Nov 2002 09:36:17 -0500
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NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 02 Nov 2002 09:46:15 EST
Organization: Bell Sympatico
JUDICIAL WATCH SUES THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS OVER CUBAN-AMERICAN =
PROFESSOR FIRED FROM PUBLIC CHICAGO UNIVERSITY FOR OPPOSING TERRORIST =
DICTATOR FIDEL CASTRO
Illinois Governor George Ryan, A Castro Fan Who Opposes the U.S. =
Embargo Against Cuba, Is On the Board of Trustees of the University That =
Fired Professor Juan Lopez
(Miami, FL/Chicago IL) Judicial Watch, the public interest group that =
investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced that it has =
filed a discrimination lawsuit against the University of Illinois at =
Chicago on behalf of Juan Lopez, the Cuban-American political science =
professor with an impeccable teaching record who is a fierce opponent of =
Fidel Castro's communist regime. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court =
for the Northern District of Illinois, accuses the state-run university =
of discriminating against Lopez because of his nationalit! y (Cuban) and =
political views, a violation of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
For years Professor Lopez has publicly criticized Illinois Governor =
George Ryan's cozy relationship with Cuban Dictator Fidel Castro and =
Ryan's trips to the island in an effort to lift the decades-old U.S. =
Embargo. In fact, in 1999 Ryan became the first sitting governor in =
about 40 years to travel to Cuba. The historic trip opened the way for =
Illinois-based Archer Daniels Midland, a big contributor to many =
political campaigns, to become the first company to sell food directly =
from the United States to Cuba since 1963.
Professor Lopez, who was hired by the university in 1995, was on =
tenure track and twice received top-notch reviews from a committee of =
tenured faculty that referred to him as an "excellent scholar." The =
final requirement for tenure was to publish a book, which he =
accomplished this year. Titled, Democracy Delayed: The Case of Castro's =
Cuba, the book is being publi! shed by the prestigious Johns Hopkins =
University Press and has received excellent reviews from top scholars =
around the country, including the Director for the Institute for Cuban =
Studies at the University of Miami, Jaime Suchlicki, who says the book =
is bound to "become a classic." Chicago University officials, however, =
denied Lopez tenure recently, claiming that the quality of his book is =
insufficient. Therefore Lopez was fired.=20
"Academia is supposedly where ideas flow freely yet Professor Lopez is =
being punished for speaking out against a terrorist dictator because the =
governor's friends stand to make millions of dollars doing business with =
him? This publicly funded university is practicing some of the same =
oppressive tactics that Fidel Castro uses daily such as denial of =
freedom of speech and rights of association, both guaranteed by the U.S. =
Constitution ,'' said Larry Klayman, Judicial Watch Chairman and General =
Counsel.
=A9 Copyright 1997-2002, Judicial Watch, Inc.
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