CHICAGO – A political science professor at DePaul University who has accused some Jews of improperly using the legacy of the Holocaust to get compensation payments has been denied tenure by a close vote after a drawn-out public fight.

Norman Finkelstein, whose work has sparked a long-running feud with Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, said he was disappointed by the decision.

“They can deny me tenure, deny me the right to teach,” the 53-year-old told the Chicago Sun-Times. “But they will never stop me from saying what I believe.”

On his Web site Sunday, Finkelstein posted a letter from University President Dennis Holtschneider explaining why a faculty panel voted 4-3 to deny him tenure at the Catholic university.

The three-page note cites Finkelstein’s “deliberately hurtful” scholarship along with his lack of involvement with the school and his tendency for public clashes with other scholars.

“In the opinion of those opposing tenure, your unprofessional personal attacks divert the conversation away from consideration of ideas, and polarize and simplify conversations that deserve layered and subtle consideration,” Holtschneider wrote in a letter dated June 8.

An e-mail message left Sunday for Finkelstein, who lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., was not returned. A telephone recording said his Brooklyn phone had been temporarily disconnected.

The debate over his tenure raised the ire of many in academic and religious circles, and blogs and petitions that both support and deride him have appeared on the Internet.

Dershowitz, the lawyer famous for representing O.J. Simpson and other high-profile clients, has urged DePaul officials to reject Finkelstein’s tenure bid.

“This should not have been a close case,” he said in an e-mail Sunday. “Finkelstein’s only academic output is ad hominem attacks on ideological enemies. … The only reason this appeared close was because outsiders from the hard left mounted a political campaign on his behalf.”

In a statement issued by the university, Holtschneider noted the heated debate surrounding Finkelstein’s tenure.

“Over the past several months, there has been considerable outside interest and public debate concerning this decision,” he said. “This attention was unwelcome and inappropriate and had no impact on either the process or the outcome of this case.”

Finkelstein supporter Raul Hilberg, a Holocaust scholar and emeritus political science professor at the University of Vermont, said he believes the school’s tenure process was unfairly influenced.

“The person who is denied tenure under these circumstances clouds the institution that has made that kind of a decision,” Hilberg said.