The top 10 woke tweets of 2021

Leftist professors in academia didn’t hold back when it came to sharing their woke ideas on Twitter this year.

From a professor defending sex work to a professor praising Joseph Stalin, Campus Reform reported on some of the most outrageous hot takes on Twitter out of higher education. 

10. UC prof: Zionism has ‘politically toxified our schools’

A professor at the University of California-Riverside tweeted in January 2021 claiming that Zionism has “politically toxified our schools.”

Dylan Rodriguez tweeted, “most California public education administrators don’t understand how Zionism politically toxified our schools and curricula. It prevents us from teaching historical material about entire populations. This must not continue.”

According to Rodríguez, the tweet was part of the “Save Arab American Studies twitter storm.” He encouraged others to join in the social media movement, tweeting, “Retweet and join with #DefendEthnicStudies. I support a California Ethnic Studies curriculum that is rigorous and inclusive of vital fields like AAS.” 

9. UNT gives ‘mask-urbate’ guidelines for sex during COVID

The University of North Texas’s Student Health and Wellness Center had some advice for students on how to have sex and avoid COVID-19 at the same time. 

In a since-deleted tweet, the school tweeted “Mask-urbate?! Read below to learn more,” along with an image suggesting that ill students should “skip sex and stay in.”

“Mask-urbate! Use face coverings during mutual masturbation to reduce your risk,” read the infographic, complete with the university’s logo.

The image also encouraged students to “be creative with physical barriers & sexual positions to prevent close face-to-face contact,” and to wear masks as well as condoms during sex.

8. Prof blames ‘every single’ future COVID death on the GOP

A professor at the University of Rhode Island tweeted in July 2021 arguing that the Republican Party will be to blame for “every single” future COVID-19 death.

“The thousands of upcoming COVID deaths are entirely the fault of the Republican Party. Every single one,” Loomis tweeted. “Though, it is worth noting, people do have agency and if they were bamboozled by the Republican Party, they also wanted to be.”

This tweet came just one day before American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten tweeted that “Millions of Floridians are going to die for Ron DeSantis’ ignorance and he’s choosing to profit from it. He doesn’t care about Floridians; he cares about furthering his own cruel agenda.”

7. Stanford prof says ‘Whiteness’ explains parents’ opposition to school mask mandates

A professor at Stanford University tweeted in August 2021 claiming that protestors of school mask mandates are doing so because of their “Whiteness.”

Hakeem Jefferson tweeted “make no mistake, this crazy opposition to mask wearing that is leading folks (read white ppl) to act violently at school board meetings & council meetings & everywhere else—yeah, you can’t disconnect it from whiteness. And discussions that don’t acknowledge this are incomplete.”

Jefferson also attributed White identity as the cause of the January 6 Capitol riots, saying, “It’s like my reaction to jan6. You don’t have to be an expert in identity to know that whiteness is driving the behavior.”

The professor also retweeted a reply to his thread stating, “Whiteness is the most pressing threat to the nation that isn’t climate change.” 

6. Iowa State professor says she limits interactions with white people ‘as much as possible’

A professor at Iowa State University allegedly tweeted in February 2021 that she limits her interactions “with yt people as much as possible.”

Rita Mookerjee tweeted “Lately, I try to limit my interactions with yt people as much as possible. I can’t with the self-importance and performance esp during Black History Month.” 

The term “yt” is often used online in place of the word “white” in conversations involving race. 

5. Phylicia Rashad, dean at Howard U, celebrates Bill Cosby’s release from prison

The dean of the College of Fine Arts at Howard University tweeted in June 2021 celebrating Bill Cosby’s release from a Pennsylvania prison.

Phylicia Rashad, who is also an actress, said in a since-deleted tweet, “FINALLY!!!! A terrible wrong is being righted- a miscarriage of justice is corrected!”

Rashad, who played Cosby’s fictional wife on The Cosby Show, immediately received criticism for her “insensitive and disrespectful” comments.  

Rashad then tweeted “I fully support survivors of sexual assault coming forward. My post was in no way intended to be insensitive to their truth. Personally, I know from friends and family that such abuse has lifelong residual effects. My heartfelt wish is for healing.”

4. Prof: ‘The problem with academia today is that it has too many conservatives’

A professor at the University of Massachusetts tweeted in April 2021 claiming that higher education institutions have “too many conservatives” on campus.

Asheesh Kapur Siddique tweeted “The problem with academia today is that it has too many conservatives. They run the university. They sit in admin & on university boards enforcing manufactured austerity, combating unionization, & casualizing most of the professoriate.”

He also added that “those who think that the ideological character of the university can be discerned by the political leanings of its faculty betray a fundamental misunderstanding of how institutions work. You have to look at management, not labor.”

3. California professor says Joseph Stalin was a ‘very successful revolutionary’

A professor at Riverside City College tweeted in June 2021 defending Joseph Stalin and saying he was one of the greatest leaders of the 20th century, citing the dictator’s contributions to Marxism. 

Asatar Bair tweeted, “People say I ‘idolize’ Stalin. Not true, I hold a fair and balanced view. The man was neither savior nor saint, but he was, at once, a very successful revolutionary, a great contributor to Marxist theory, and said to be a great listener and collaborator during discussions.”

Bair also added that he “would certainly conclude that he is one of the great leaders of the 20th c[entury] though.”

2. DISGUSTING: Profs rejoice in Rush Limbaugh’s death

Conservative talk radio legend Rush Limbaugh passed away at the beginning of the year from lung cancer. Limbaugh hosted a variety of conservative television and radio programs over the course of decades, including The Rush Limbaugh Show. He was one of the most influential talk radio hosts in the United States and was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame.

However, not everyone saw him as a legend. Multiple professors from different colleges and universities tweeted in February 2021 celebrating the passing of Limbaugh. 

A professor at Yale University’s law school tweeted, “I wouldn’t say I was happy that Rush Limbaugh died. It’s more like euphoria.” Scott Shapiro’s tweet has since been deleted tweet.

The chair of the religious studies department at the University of Pennsylvania tweeted an ambiguous celebratory GIF about an hour after the news broke. 

A professor at Georgia Southern University called Limbaugh “one of the most harmful and poisonous people in the modern United States of America.” 

Jared Yates Sexton also added that “his pursuit of wealth and power hurt untold numbers of people and wrought incalculable damage to politics as a public good, society as a whole, and the planet itself.”

Ryan Devlin — an assistant professor at the Pratt Institute — tweeted a GIF of a body thrown into a dumpster. The tweet has since been deleted. 

1. U of Ottawa professor: ‘Sex work’ is ‘the best thing young people can do early in their careers’

An adjunct professor at the University of Ottawa and a Canadian Lawyer tweeted in June 2021 endorsing sex work for “young people” calling it “the best thing” they can do early in their careers. 

Naomi Sayers tweeted, “unpopular opinion: the best thing young people can do early in their careers is do #SexWork on the side because your early career prospects will be unstable, unpredictable, low pay, likely contract work and very much exploitative.”

She then addressed the idea of sex work being exploitative by comparing it to capitalism.

“That’s how capitalism works… People out here saying young people can be exploited in sex work. Literally, that’s capitalism. Lol. And quite literally, that’s any kind of work.”

Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @opheliejacobson