Wayne State U. Prof Placed on Leave After Suggesting Conservative Campus Speakers Should be Killed Not Shouted Down
“I think it is far more admirable to kill”
These stupid comments were made on social media in response to the recent shout down at Stanford Law School.
Reason reports:
Professor Suggests Murder as Alternative to Shouting Down Speakers
An English professor at Wayne State University apparently had an overheated reaction to the fiasco at Stanford Law School. He thought the protesters did not go far enough, and he took to Facebook to say so.
“I think it is far more admirable to kill a racist, homophobic, or transphobic speaker than it is to shout them down,”he began, and he concluded with “The exemplary historical figure in this regard is Sholem Schwarzbard, who assassinated the anti-Semitic butcher Symon Petliura, rather than trying to shout him down. Remember that Schwarzbard was acquitted by a jury, which found his action justified.”
The president of Wayne State has now announced that the professor has been suspended and his social media post referred to law enforcement.
The professor’s post is almost certainly constitutionally protected as neither a true threat nor an incitement to imminent lawless action. Wayne State, like many universities, has adopted the language American Association of University Professors’ 1940 Statement on Academic Freedom.
Hi @waynestate is this one of your professors publicly calling for murder ON CAMPUS of any speaker who has an opinion he disagrees with?
“I think it is far more admirable to kill” pic.twitter.com/5TjDACUuGl— TheFamousArtistBirdyRose (@TheFamousArtBR) March 25, 2023
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Comments
It’s worded in a way that gets him off the hook. He’ll be back and probably gloating gleefully about it.
“Remember that Schaviro was acquitted by the Wayne State administration, which found his action permissible.”
So then, who will step up to be his Sholem Schwarzbard?
Ah, yes! Freedom of speech. are there limitations?
Sed quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Wayne State is Michigan’s third largest university, I presume right behind Michigan and Michigan State. I applaud the administration’s quick reaction to such an unsavory post. This is not the type of judgment any reputable university can sanction. I would think the streets of Detroit are full of examples of vigilante justice meted out by the local gangs, and would serve as a useful example to this professor.
By the way … where were the Facebook censors? I’ve been put in FB jail for far less than recommending murder.