Professor Fired for Criticizing Israel, Academic Freedom at Risk

0:00A University of Washington Associate Professor named Arya Fani just got booted as director of the school's Middle East Center. It happened after he sent emails on the center's list serve blasting US and Israel military moves against Iran and labeling Zionism as cancerous. Fani, born and raised in Iran before moving here at 18, signed a three year contract in 2025 to run programming, community, outreach, and fundraising. He teaches Persian and Iranian studies, so he shared his research base take on the war in those messages, stressing they were his personal views. The second email on March 18 called the conflict, an attack on Iran's people and heritage, with Israel committing terrorism. Soon after, the list serve went under moderation, and last week director Daniel Hoffman told him he was out, saying the emails made some folks feel, attacked. Fani says there were no clear rules on list serve use, and Hoffman claimed it was his solo call, not from outside pressure, even though the email leaked online.

1:02He remains a professor, but is on medical leave this quarter. This firing has Fani feeling betrayed, warning of a chilling effect on academic freedom for anyone speaking against the war tensions like these show. How he did these debates stay in academia. This has been Vancouver News Today, powered by AI.