Drexel Prof Dropped After Trump Tweets

Social media posts resulted in another academic career setback. “Drexel University in Philadelphia has placed associate Professor George Ciccariello-Maher on leave due to security threats ever since he blamed ‘Trumpism’ and the “narrative of white victimization” for the mass shooting in Las Vegas on Oct. 1,” Jessica Chasmar reported in The Washington Times on October 11, 2017. “Mr. Ciccariello-Maher came under fire last week after he fired off a series of tweets criticizing white men less than 24 hours after Stephen Paddock opened fire from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, killing 58 people and injuring 489 others who were attending a country music festival.”

If the professor sent out this tweet in a weak moment, it seems he’s had quite a few weak moments. “Drexel University is moving forward with an investigation into a professor’s controversial tweets, and it’s unclear what, if any, backing the inquiry has from the faculty,” Colleen Flaherty reported in Inside Higher Ed in April. “George Ciccariello-Maher, an associate professor of politics and global studies at Drexel, is the professor who tweeted on Christmas Eve (academically tongue-in-cheek, he’s since said) that all he wanted for the holiday was ‘white genocide.’”

“More recently, Ciccariello-Maher tweeted that he wanted to “vomit” after seeing someone give up a first-class airline seat to a uniformed soldier; Ciccariello-Maher said he was motivated by concerns about U.S. military actions oversees — namely the March strike on Mosul, Iraq, that killed many civilians.”