Sunday Opinion: Michigan State must fire prof who went on hateful rant
On September 3, Campus Reform released an eight-minute secretly recorded video of Michigan State University (MSU) Professor William Penn opening his creative writing class with an anti-Republicans rant.
In response to the video, MSU administrators "reassigned" Penn's teaching duties but continued to pay him his $146,510 annual salary.
On September 13, the school's Board of Trustee's met, but did not discuss Penn's remarks until students and alumni forced the issue during the public participation portion of the meeting at the end.
WATCH: 'If Professor William Penn went on a similar rant bashing the LGBT community you would have fired him immediately.'
“His hateful rant put... a tenured faculty member on the national stage for the whole country to see,” MSU alum Chris Fitzimmons told the Trustees in that meeting.
Matt Bedard, President of the MSU Campus Conservatives, also asked the MSU board to “consider further action” against Professor Penn by fully suspending him without pay.
“Bullying in the classroom makes all Spartans look bad and does not allow for the students to think critically about these important topics," Nate Sherman, a recent MSU alumni told local Fox affiliate Channel 47. "Because of this, Professor Penn should not receive pay during this suspension.”
Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @CalebBonham
