On March 26, 2026, the University of Arkansas (UA) dismissed Shirin Saeidi, a tenured associate professor of political science and the former director of the university’s King Fahd Center for Middle East Studies, overriding a unanimous faculty committee recommendation that she be reinstated after a suspension in December 2025.
On December 5, 2025, Brian Raines, the dean of UA’s Fulbright College of Art and Sciences, wrote to Saeidi to notify her that she was being removed from her role as the director of UA’s Center for Middle East Studies. The letter acknowledged that an investigation into allegations of antisemitism by the university’s Office of Equal Opportunity, Compliance and Title IX had concluded that Saeidi had not violated any university policies. Nevertheless, Raines justified the decision to relieve Saiedi of her directorship by pointing to Saiedi’s alleged use of university letterhead to express her political opinions and social media posts that she had made on X calling the state of Israel “a terrorist and genocidal state that must be dismantled” and saying of Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khomeini, “The leader who kept Iran intact during the Israeli attack. May God protect you and the Iranian people from the Israeli regime.” Raines’s letter followed a public pressure campaign demanding that UA fire Saeidi, including a Change.org petition.
On December 16, Raines sent another letter to Saeidi informing her that he was suspending her and recommending her dismissal from her faculty post. The second letter pointed to a re-post that Saeidi made on X on December 8. The original post stated, “Warm blood, brave one, thrust the dagger from Doha into the throats of the Zionists, so that all of them howl.” Saeidi followed the post with a commentary stating, “Attacking Muslims and Jews because of what their states do is racist and illegal according to international law.”
On December 19, more than 20 members of Arkansas’ state senate signed a letter in support of the university’s investigation into Saeidi.
On January 6, Saeidi requested that the university’s Faculty Committee on Appointment, Promotion, and Tenure review her case. A hearing was held on February 23. On February 27, the committee announced that it was unanimously recommending Saeidi’s reinstatement on the basis that, while some may find Saeidi’s statements offensive, they did not violate any UA policy.
On March 26, UA president Jay B. Silveria announced that the university was dismissing Saiedi. In his announcement, he pointed to concerns about university funding, stating, “I am also concerned that the university could suffer a reduction or elimination of funding under Ark. Code Ann. § 6-16-2004 if its responses to antisemitism are determined to be inadequate.”
Scholars at Risk is concerned about a university overriding a unanimous review committee and dismissing a professor who had not violated any university policies, in an apparent attempt to placate persons outside of the university who objected to the professor’s extramural speech. Academics should enjoy the full scope of rights as all other persons, including free expression (free speech), freedom of association, and due process. While state universities do not have to endorse or defend noxious or offensive personal views of their employees, they must refrain from retaliatory employment actions that punish, restrict, or chill employees’ exercise of their constitutional rights. Sanctioning academic staff for extramural expression undermines academic freedom, university autonomy, and democratic society generally.
Sources:
https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2026/apr/01/university-of-arkansas-professor-shirin-saeidi/
https://www.iranintl.com/en/202512134778
https://wehco.media.clients.ellingtoncms.com/news/document/2025/12/19/Fahd_letter.pdf
https://www.instagram.com/p/DSRGxvZiH59/?igsh=aTVhejYwOGw2dG0%3D
https://www.change.org/p/calling-on-the-university-of-arkansas-to-remove-dr-shirin-saeidi