A white chemistry professor at the University of New Hampshire has resigned after a four-month investigation found he had been posing as a female immigrant of color on Twitter to make racist and sexist comments. The professor specifically used the account to frequently criticize other users who were advocating for greater diversity in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology, according to the Associated Press.
University President James Dean Jr. explained the school's position in an open letter to the community:
While we are limited in what we can say in order to protect the privacy of all involved, we can share that the faculty member chose to resign when the university concluded that the conduct exhibited was not consistent with the university’s values and our expectation that every faculty member contribute to a professional academic environment free of intimidation and harassment.
The University has not publicized the exact findings from the investigation.
Toby SantaMaria, a graduate student at Michigan State, says they were attacked by the professor online.
“Pretending to be a woman on the internet explicitly to bully, shame, harass, and create toxic spaces against POC deserves heavy consequences,” they said. “It deserves heavy consequences because it shows a deep-seated bias against historically excluded groups. If you are a professor, teaching POC, that kind of racism and misogyny is unacceptable.”
The account was taken down late last year.
[Via]
