Fresno State President Joseph Castro announced the university made a decision not to take disciplinary action against Randa Jarrar. “Her comments, although disgraceful, are protected free speech under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution,” Castro wrote.
Randa Jarrar, a Fresno State professor, sparked outrage after writing tweets attacking Barbara Bush, the former first lady who died at age 92.
She tweeted: “I’m happy the witch is dead. Can’t wait for the rest of the family to fall to their demise.” Amid criticisms, Jarrar provided a telephone number on her Twitter account as if it was her own contact number, stating “If you really wanna reach me, here’s my number ok?” However, the phone number that she provided was that of an emergency suicide/crisis hotline at Arizona State University.
The resulting deluge of thousands of spam callers overwhelmed the mental health crisis center’s ability to take calls. She bragged about being a tenured professor making $100,000 a year and claimed she will “never be fired.”
The school first tried to distance itself from her saying that those were her personal views. After donors showed anger, university provost Lynnette Zelezny said at a news conference that Jarrar’s tenure would not protect her from termination. Fresno State President Joseph Castro acknowledged that he’s been having conversations with donors regarding the controversy. But now we know there is No punishment at all.
In spite of all the backlash, Jarrar has since said she “absolutely” stands by her comments. “I am not the only person who has stated the belief that Barbara Bush was a racist,” she explained. “But women of color routinely have their tone policed, their justified anger painted as hatred, and their criticism of injustice framed as racism toward white people.”
Jarrar grew up in Kuwait and Egypt. She teaches English. A video has now surfaced of Randa Jarrar saying, “Farmers are f*cking stupid,” as well as expressing her hatred for white men and women.
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Shortly after the former first lady’s death last week, Jarrar published a flurry of tweets blasting Bush’s legacy.
“Barbara Bush was a generous and smart and amazing racist who, along with her husband, raised a war criminal,” Jarrar wrote on Twitter.
The hateful Muslim professor at Fresno State cheered Mrs. Bush’s death then doubled down and wished for the ‘rest of the Bush family to fall to their demise.’
“I’m happy the witch is dead,” Jarrar wrote in another tweet. “Can’t wait for the rest of her family to fall to their demise the way 1.5 million iraqis have. byyyeeeeeee.”
More than 2,000 people replied to Jarrar before she made her Twitter account private, the Bee reported.
She called her critics “racists going crazy in my mentions” and said she was being attacked because she was “an Arab American Muslim American woman with some clout.”
Even worse, Jarrar also posted a phone number to a mental health hotline claiming it was her own so the hotline was inundated with calls, potentially blocking people who really need the service.
The Fresno State professor even taunted people about being tenured which she believed shielded her from being terminated.
In a late-night tweetstorm, Randa Jarrar taunted the chorus of people demanding that she be fired from her tenured position at California State University at Fresno after she called the recently deceased Barbara Bush “an amazing racist” and exulted, “I’m happy the witch is dead.”
“I will never be fired,” Jarrar wrote on Twitter.
To scores of critics, it was “challenge accepted.” They tagged Fresno State President Joseph I. Castro in tweets, and they emailed him and wrote editorials with a singular message: Jarrar’s words were horrible, and she should no longer be a professor at the university.
School officials said they were reviewing the tenured professor’s position, and Castro rebuked Jarrar, saying her remarks left him “shocked, upset, appalled just like everybody else.”
On Tuesday, Castro announced what the university would do about Jarrar’s words:
Nothing.
“Professor Jarrar’s conduct was insensitive, inappropriate and an embarrassment to the university,” he wrote in a five-paragraph statement. “I know her comments have angered many in our community and impacted our students.”
The university, Castro said, “carefully reviewed the facts and consulted with [lawyers] to determine whether we could take disciplinary action. … We have concluded that Professor Jarrar did not violate any CSU or university policies and that she was acting in a private capacity and speaking about a public matter on her personal Twitter account. Her comments, although disgraceful, are protected free speech under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.”
It was an unsatisfying conclusion for those who argued that tenure should not absolve Jarrar — or anyone — from the consequences of their vitriolic words.
Jarrar noted that she is a tenured professor who makes six figures and has rock-solid job security.
She even encouraged critics to contact university leaders:
“LOL let me help you. You should tag my president @JosephlCastro. What I love about being an American professor is my right to free speech, and what I love about Fresno State is that I always feel protected and at home here,” Jarrar wrote. “GO BULLDOGS!”
On Wednesday, critics blasted Fresno State for not punishing the professor, and called for alumni, donors and potential students to take notice.
But Castro said tenure wasn’t the issue, writing in his statement that “this private action is an issue of free speech and not related to her job or tenure.”
Jarrar will be free to teach at Fresno State after a scheduled leave for the spring semester, Castro said.
The controversy raised a bigger question: How much does tenure protect a professor who says vitriolic or insensitive things?
The protections that faculty members have — designed to ensure they can tackle controversial and provocative ideas without fear of retribution — are bedrock principles in higher education.
But academic freedom and tenure are not a license to act in an unprofessional manner, said Terry Hartle, a senior vice president at the American Council on Education.
No punishment for professor who said "I’m happy the witch is dead.": https://t.co/HzEUinlFan via @YouTube
— HYGO News (@HygoNews) April 25, 2018