A Wayne State University professor was suspended and a police investigation pending after posting on social media that he justified and supported the murder of right-wing speakers invited to campus.
The president of the Detroit educational institution, M. Roy Wilson, announced that one of his educators in the English department was placed on paid leave for supporting violence against campus guests who he said were "racist, homophobic or transphobic."
"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," Wilson said, noting that he has referred the publication to the police for investigation.
The professor who was later identified by several media outlets as Steven Shaviro reportedly posted through his Facebook that instead of shouting at the "right-wing" speakers who are invited to guest lecture at the University, they should be killed as has already happened on other campuses.
Professor suspended after saying it would be ‘more admirable to kill’ racist speaker than protest https://t.co/VrgKnQw0uX pic.twitter.com/1t4SBwCBLB
— New York Post (@nypost) March 28, 2023
"So here is what I think about free speech on campus," wrote the professor in the first part of his post. "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" he said.
According to Shaviro, when right-wing speakers are invited to campus it is because the University wants to provoke an "incident that discredits the left" and thus validates right-wing views.
"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 the bigots are the ones being oppressed, rather than the people those bigots actually hate being the victims of oppression," he wrote.
