A so-called “professor” at Wayne State University in Michigan has been suspended for telling woke protesters that they should consider it a legitimate form of protest to murder people with whom they disagree.
The president of Wayne State, M. Roy Wilson, released a statement Monday saying that English professor Steven Shaviro has been suspended with pay after writing that he thinks it is OK to kill political opponents.
In a since deleted Facebook post from Sunday, Shaviro wrote, “I think it is far more admirable to kill a racist, homophobic, or transphobic speaker than it is to shout them down.”
Shaviro, who describes himself in his Twitter bio as “sex negative” and a “Kitsch Marxist,” has taught “Introduction to Film” courses at Wayne State since 2021.
“Although I do not advocate violating federal and state criminal codes, I think it is far more admirable to kill a racist, homophobic, or transphobic speaker than it is to shout them down,” Shaviro’s post says.
It goes on to say that “right-wing” groups invite speakers to campuses to provoke a reaction from left-wing groups.
“The protesters get blamed instead of the bigoted speaker; the university administration finds a perfect excuse to side publicly with the racists or phobes; the national and international press has a field day saying that bigots are the ones being oppressed, rather than the people those bigots actually hate being the victims of oppression.”
Wayne State President Wilson was not taken in by Shaviro’s “logic.”
Wilson wrote:
Dear campus community,
This morning, I was made aware of a social media post by a Wayne State University professor in our Department of English.
The post stated that rather than “shouting down” those with whom we disagree, one would be justified to commit murder to silence them. We have on many occasions defended the right of free speech guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, but we feel this post far exceeds the bounds of reasonable or protected speech. It is, at best, morally reprehensible and, at worst, criminal.
We have referred this to law enforcement agencies for further review and investigation. Pending their review, we have suspended the professor with pay, effective immediately.
Shaviro should be fired. Pure and simple.
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