UC Merced denounces professor’s anti-Semitic tweets. Petition calls for his firing
A spate of anti-Semitic tweets from a UC Merced professor that have since been deleted has prompted an investigation, university officials confirmed late Tuesday.
The university has begun to conduct an inquiry into Professor Abbas Ghassemi, a faculty member at the UC Merced School of Engineering, who posted several disparaging comments on a personal Twitter account that included an image of a “Zionist brain” with the labels “frontal money lobe,” “Holocaust memory centre” and “world domination lobe.”
The investigation will determine whether Ghassemi violated the school’s standards and policies. Depending on the findings, university officials will decide on “what consequences are appropriate,” according to a statement from Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz.
“The opinions presented in this Twitter account do not represent UC Merced or the University of California,” Muñoz said. “They were abhorrent and repugnant to us and to many of our colleagues and neighbors; they were harmful to our university, our students, and our years of work to build an inclusive and welcoming community.”
The university will also be developing a program for the upcoming spring semester that will address free speech, hate speech and anti-Semitism in academia. Muñoz hopes the course will “promote ways to challenge discriminatory insinuations when and wherever they emerge within the university community.”
In addition, the university will update its social media policies for staff and faculty to clarify its “expectations against intolerance.”
Ghassemi did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
In response to the inquiry, Ghassemi had retained the legal services of Michael J. DeNiro, an attorney who specializes in First Amendment issues in academia, according to the Jewish News of Northern California, a news organization that first revealed the Tweets in a story last week.
DeNiro could not be reached for comment.
Ghassemi’s account, which was created in 2019, was registered to “@ProfessorGhass1” and contained posts accused of peddling anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. Before deleting his account, he had published or retweeted more than 2,200 times, the site, which also calls itself “J.,” reported.
Before the account was deleted, J. created an archive of Ghassemi’s tweets, which also included several claims that Zionists were controlling the U.S. government, banking system and media.
The professor also frequently used “IsraHell” in place of “Israel” in many of his posts.
The tweets sparked outrage among students and alumni, who have since called on the university to fire the professor in an online petition started last week. The petition, which has garnered 41 signatures, calls for Ghassemi to be fired for his “oppression” and “hate.”
Even though she is not Jewish, Ashely West, 28, an alumna who started the petition, told The Bee she resonates with the community as a Black, queer woman.
“As a professor he has the duty to educate people on the mistakes of history and he has a platform to educate people,” she said. “Does he know how the internet works? Lives are lost because of posts like his tweet.”
Several prominent Jewish organizations around the country have also denounced Ghassemi’s comments and are urging the university to “investigate the matter fully.”
The nonprofit StandWithUs, a self-described pro-Israel educational organization, sent a letter to university leaders last week calling for action against Ghassemi. The letter states his posts “promote blatant antisemitic tropes and display an alarming hatred for Jews, Israelis and Zionists.”
A university spokesperson on Wednesday did not respond to questions about how long the investigation is expected to last.
This story was originally published December 31, 2020 at 10:29 AM.