Posted on 08/30/2017 7:42:27 AM PDT by Vlad The Inhaler
A tweet suggesting that the devastation of Hurricane Harvey was "instant karma" for the red state of Texas has cost a University of Tampa professor his job — making him just the latest academic fired for off-duty speech.
The University first distanced itself from sociology professor Kenneth L. Storey on Monday. But a tide of online outrage continued. A #FireKenStorey hashtag spread far beyond the university. Angry Facebook comments piled up.
"Don't think this is a school we will be looking at for my daughter anymore," one commenter said. An alumnus wrote, "Good thing I already paid you, because I'll never send the school another dime again."
On Tuesday morning, the university fired him.
"We condemn the comments and the sentiment behind them, and understand the pain this irresponsible act has caused," spokesman Eric Cardenas said in a statement.
Storey told the Tampa Bay Times that, while saddened, he understands UT's decision. He got caught up in today's political climate, he said, and knows now that every 140-character post needs to be able to stand on its own.
"What they see in those tweets is not who I am," he said. "How I worded it was wrong. I care about people. I love this country. I would never want to wish harm upon anyone."
The university has no clear policy on protections for speech like Storey's, said longtime communication professor Gregg Bachman. Though the tweet was "impulsive, immature and insensitive," Bachman said, he flinched at seeing a fellow professor fired amid blurry boundaries.
"I can feel a slight chill in the air over this," Bachman said. "I want to see that policy, and if it's not there, I want it developed, because faculty can't feel exposed like this."
Meanwhile, a group that fights for civil liberties in academia has taken up the issue, disappointed that UT "caved" to the pressure of "outrage mobs" online.
"Many universities seem to decide, 'Well, it's not worth the trouble of sticking up for our faculty members' rights,' and that's troubling," said Ari Cohn, an attorney with the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. "Other faculty members are going to think twice before speaking publicly, and that's to the detriment of everybody."
Storey has worked as an adjunct professor at UT since 2011. This was his first semester as a visiting assistant professor. Now other sociology faculty will take over his classes.
Storey's controversial tweet, which has been deleted, first drew the ire of conservative websites Turning Point USA and Campus Reform.
Referencing the hurricane, it read: "I dont believe in instant karma but this kinda feels like it for Texas. Hopefully this will help them realize the GOP doesnt care about them."
In a follow-up, he said that "good people" in red states like Texas and Florida "need to do more to stop the evil their state pushes." He continued: "I'm only blaming those who support the GOP there."
As the tweets spread, so did anger. Storey's name was added to a website called Professor Watchlist, a project to "expose and document college professors who discriminate against conservative students and advance leftist propaganda in the classroom."
Eventually Storey removed the entire thread, as well as his profile photo. He posted an apology on Monday.
"I never meant to wish ill will upon any group," he wrote. "I hope all affected by Harvey recover quickly."
Storey said his tweets were taken out of context. In a statement sent to ABC Action News, he said was referring to the "GOP denial of climate change science and push to decrease funds from agencies that can help in a time like this."
Meanwhile, the university took to Facebook, expressing solidarity for Harvey's victims and condemning Storey's tweets. Still, a deluge of calls, emails and comments demanded Storey's firing. Most of the anger came from people with no affiliation with the university, its spokesman said.
By Tuesday morning, Storey's page on the university website had been erased.
Then came his termination.
Storey said he is taking the situation "day by day," and has not decided whether he will pursue legal action.
During the first, rainy week of the new semester, several students said they were glad to see Storey answer to his tweets.
For Houston native Neisha Gamble, the comments particularly stung.
Gamble, 20, said she is still trying to get in touch with her family in a severely flooded area.
"Yes, he has free speech, but there are some things you should just keep to yourself," she said, sitting in the university's crowded Vaughn Center. The school made the right call, she said.
"Don't wish that upon anyone, and then send a fake apology out," she said.
Pulling an umbrella from her bag, Apollo Beach freshman Erin Hanson said, "As a professor and having a leadership position, it's kind of his job to keep his opinions to himself."
Patrick Holt, a junior, said he didn't believe the tweet when he first saw it.
"I thought it was pretty messed up," Holt said. "Twitter's the area for free speech, and you can say what you want, but there's an ethical line."
Social media firestorms have only heated up since the 2016 election, said Cohn, the attorney. In an era when universities often fold in the face of a public relations fiasco, the voices of internet crusaders hold serious sway.
In recent months, professors from California to New Jersey have been fired for social media posts and speaking appearances. At Fresno State, a lecturer tweeted that President Trump "must hang" to "save American democracy." A professor at Brigham Young University-Idaho wrote a private Facebook post supporting LGBT equality. Both lost their jobs.
UT's faculty handbook uses guidance from the American Association of University Professors, which states that, when teachers speak as citizens, "they should be free from institutional censorship or discipline."
Still, the policy states, they should be accurate, respect others' opinions, "exercise appropriate restraint" and make it clear they're not speaking for their institution. Only if speech raises "grave doubts concerning the teacher's fitness" may a school proceed with discipline, it says.
UT's procedures for doing so are not entirely clear.
"We will have to have a deeper and more extensive conversation among the faculty and among the senior academic leadership in order to clarify these lines," said Bachman, also the Faculty Senate president.
The AAUP said it will be following the case.
"In the meantime we continue to call on college and university leaders to denounce the targeted online harassment of their faculty members and to more forthrightly defend academic freedom," said Henry Reichman, first vice president of the organization.
"What they see in those tweets is not who I am."
"Storey said his tweets were taken out of context."
Not for nothing...but you shouldn’t get fired over a tweet. It’s called free speech (unless it is violent). The school doesn’t own him.
What can be used against them can be used against us. I don’t like what he said, but I think firing him over it is bullshit.
When I read the title, I thought it was a University of Texas professor. It would not have surprised me from there either.
It is a disgusting statement for an “educator” to have made. Pretty dumb move. Cost him a good job, for nonsense.
...”What they see in those tweets is not who I am,” he said. “How I worded it was wrong....
He meant every word he said. No backpedaling like liberals always do by saying “I misspoke” or some similar lie.
He was caught, busted, shamed. He undoubtedly was liberally programmed from grade school to the time he got his degree.
No, he's probably worse - antifa through and through
out of context
It's kind of hard to take a 140 character tween out of context considering there is no context to take it out of
Everyone (I thought) knows that employers HR checks your social media routinely for threats, sabotage', problem employees, etc.
The engineering major asks, “How does it work?”
The accounting major asks, “How much does it cost?”
The sociology major asks, “Would you like fries with that?
These fearless “justice warriors” fold like wet toilet paper when they are called out for their Leftist propaganda.
The Left should know by now that they have to hide their agenda, as the Clintons and Obama did, in order to burrow like a cancer into the soul of liberty loving Americans. When exposed, they are opposed, because sane Americans know that the Left’s utopian socialist/communist philosophy has failed everywhere it has been tried.
But when the tweet/Facebook post/etc has the person’s place of employment given in his byline, that then reflects badly on the company’s, in this case university’s, brand. That person then becomes a marketing disaster.
He's more or less libeling millions of "good people" here. Not quite the same as asking college students to stop losing their [stuff] over imagined slights (which usually is a job-ender). I'm surprised to see FIRE taking up his case.
The social justice major says, “Gibs me dat hamburger or I hit you in da head!”
How 90s! Now, they ask "Would you like a single shot or a double shot espresso?"
In the fast food places now, it's more like "¿Le gustaría papas fritas con eso?"
That's it in a nutshell, isn't it? The left, particularly the media, has created and fostered a climate in which comments like Storey's are considered normal. The result is that mindless people like this assistant professor have no idea where to draw the line anymore and Antifa-la-la thugs attack innocent people with impunity. Until more people start paying consequences, this will only get worse.
I agree, this was not cause for termination, but it’s a different world than when I was in college, before PC. I don’t do Twitter or Facebook, for good reason.
Bingo!!
"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool. than to open your mouth and remove all doubt."
True, the school does not "own" him, nor do you or anyone else who respond to a thoughtless tweet.
There are too may disturbed people in the current political climate who are either insane or violence prone who might react badly.
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