Petition for the removal of hateful professor who insulted Barbara Bush on her demise reaches 16,000 signatures
Randa Jarrar, a creative writing professor from Fresno State reacted to Barbara Bush's death by speaking ill of her on Twitter last week: “Barbara Bush was a generous and smart and amazing racist who, along with her husband, raised a war criminal,” she wrote. “F**k outta here with your nice words.
Jarrar used a simple "with us or against us" moral logic when she declared, “PSA: either you are against these pieces of shit and their genocidal ways or you're part of the problem. That's actually how simple this is,” adding the sentiment, “I'm happy the witch is dead. Can't wait for the rest of her family to fall to their demise the way 1.5 million Iraqis have. byyyeeeeeeee.”
Some progressives have argued in the past that it would be necessary for us to determine as to whether or not Jarrar's monologue qualifies as hate speech or not when she wishes death on an entire family while cheering for the matriarch's death.
That being said, the analysis is simple: Fresno State cannot punish this professor by law for her scathing speech. The conclusion was reached by all free speech advocates including Robby Soave of Reason, David French of National Review, and other staffers at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.
But maybe there is a better way of tackling such a situation. This time, a petition to fire the professor who insulted the celebrated Barbara Bush attracted over 16,000 signatures as of Tuesday morning. In the said appeal, critics have called upon California State University to kick the professor out for her derogatory comments against the former first lady she made soon after her demise, reported Fox News.
“Immediate termination of Professor Randa Jarrar for racism and inflammatory comments regarding a former First Lady of the United States, Barbara Bush,” the petition reads.
Jarrar also boasted that she cannot be fired as she's a tenured professor. Currently, the professor is subject to an internal university investigation and is placed on administrative leave for the semester.
“I work as a tenured professor. I make 100K a year doing that. I will never be fired. I will always have people wanting to hear what I have to say,” she wrote on Twitter.
The infamous left-leaning professor angered people by allegedly posting a phone number for a crisis hotline at Arizona State University and falsely claiming that it is her personal number. The crisis line was flooded with calls after she posted the message. Normally, it receives only a few calls throughout the week.
The controversy got big enough to prompt some influential donors to consider pulling out financial support if the professor is not removed from her office.
An important donor to Fresno State, Ed Dunkel Jr., asserted that before deciding whether to close his checkbook, he will await the outcome of the controversy. Dunkel has made significant financial contributions to the institution until now
“I have a lot of friends that I've been talking to, and these are people who donate now and talking about holding back, and some are even questioning whether to send their kids to Fresno State," Dunkel told the Fresno Bee.
Although the top dogs in Fresno State condemned the professor for her controversial comments about Bush, she has is being defended by some advocacy groups who claim that her speech is protected under the First Amendment.
“Jarrar’s tweets are unquestionably protected speech under the First Amendment and Fresno State has no power to censor, punish, or terminate Jarrar for them,” Adam Steinbaugh, senior program officer for FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights in Education), said in a statement to Fox News.
Jarrar was allegedly applauded at a literary festival she was forced to withdraw from in the midst of the dispute.