 The case received wide attention on many college campuses because it raises the issue of suppression of academic freedom regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.The Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette pointed out that the situation was unique because so few "prospective employees ... would engage in the kind of self-destructive behavior that Salaita did between job offer and contract approval".In response to the university's actions, a group of over 40 Jewish faculty and students at the university signed a letter to Chancellor Wise and the board, protesting what they consider an unjustified conflation of "criticism of the Israeli state with anti-Semitism."