…says a professor whose salary is paid mostly by Republicans. Campus Reform reports on Professor Bart Knijnenburg of Clemson University, who apparently hates Republicans:
Clemson School of Computing Assistant Professor Bart Knijnenburg took to Facebook in July and wrote, “Trump is xenophobic and racist. Trump’s administration is xenophobic and racist. The Republican Party is xenophobic and racist.” He continued on to say that, “anyone who voted Republican in 2016 is xenophobic and racist,” and concluded by stating, “anyone who still calls themselves a Republican despite all this is xenophobic and racist.”
In 2017, Professor Knijnenburg wrote that “all Trump supporters, nay, all Republicans, are racist scum.”
Professor Knijnenburg
Here’s the thing: Clemson is a public, taxpayer funded university in South Carolina. South Carolina has a Republican Governor. It has two Republican Senators. Five of its seven Representatives are Republicans. Republicans control both the South Carolina House and the South Carolina Senate. It is safe to conclude that most South Carolina voters and taxpayers are Republicans. They pay Professor Knijnenburg’s salary. Further, most of Professor Knijnenburg’s students are Republicans, or at least the sons and daughters of Republicans.
Why should the people of South Carolina fund this bigot? Why should they allow him to teach their children? They should fire him. Yeah, sure, tenure. But tenure should not protect a professor who is guilty of this kind of overt bigotry.
Then too: why does Professor Knijnenburg want to work for a state that consists mostly of racist scum? Why does he want a job where his salary is paid by racists? If he had any integrity at all, wouldn’t he resign?
It is impossible to overstate how sick academia is, even in public universities, and even in a place like South Carolina.
Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.