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Professor who lost U of I offer plans speeches

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - An academic who lost a University of Illinois job offer because of profane, anti-Israel Twitter messages plans a series of talks at Chicago-area universities.

Students for Justice in Palestine and Chicago-based Gay Liberation Network are sponsoring talks by former Virginia Tech University professor Steve Salaita Oct. 6-10. Forums include Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, DePaul University and the University of Illinois-Chicago.

Salaita did not return calls but has mentioned the talks on his Twitter feed.

Salaita in 2013 accepted an offer to teach at the University of Illinois' Urbana-Champaign campus. But the offer was rescinded after critics objected to his Twitter messages.

He is unemployed and plans to sue the university.

Andy Thayer of the Gay Liberation group says Salaita will be paid to speak at some schools.

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