On Tuesday, Fresno State announced there will be no repercussions for Professor Randa Jarrar, who gained national attention for a series of tweets that celebrated the death of Barbara Bush.
Since her initial tweets a petition, that gained 60,000 signatures, was enacted.
“Barbara Bush was a generous and smart and amazing racist who, along with her husband, raised a war criminal. F**k outta here with your nice words,” Jarrar tweeted last week.
The professor received immediate heat for her statement, but that didn’t stop her and only encouraged more of the hate. Jarrar said she was “happy” that “George W Bush is probably really sad right now.”
“I’m happy the witch is dead,” Jarrar tweeted another time.
“I work as a tenured professor,” Jarrar said. “I make 100K a year doing that.”
Fresno State President Joseph Castro labeled Jarrar’s conduct “insensitive and inappropriate,” however, as announced in a press release, Jarrar will not be disciplined for her actions:
Immediately following Professor Jarrar’s tweets last Tuesday, we carefully reviewed the facts and consulted with CSU counsel to determine whether we could take disciplinary action. After completing this process, 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. Additionally, although Professor Jarrar used tenure to defend her behavior, this private action is an issue of free speech and not related to her job or tenure.
Via Breitbart: Fresno State may still face a backlash from alumni and donors, a report last week indicated the school was attempting damage control with these influential groups.
As Breitbart News reported, some claim it would have been unconstitutional for Fresno State to punish Jarrar. An analysis from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) explained that government employees like Jarrar cannot be disciplined for their speech. FIRE explained that the First Amendment does not have a “disrespectful” exception.
VICTORY: @Fresno_State announced it will not punish Prof. Randa Jarrar over her controversial tweets, writing, “Our duty as Americans and as educators is to promote a free exchange of diverse views, even if we disagree with them.” Full statement: https://t.co/rQMQZXwwgO (1/3)
— FIRE (@TheFIREorg) April 25, 2018
FIRE is pleased to see this outcome. The First Amendment restricts the disciplinary consequences that a public university may impose on a professor for speech expressed in a private capacity on matters of public concern, regardless of viewpoint. (3/3)
— FIRE (@TheFIREorg) April 25, 2018
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