'White genocide' prof resigns from Drexel
The Drexel University professor who tweeted last winter “All I Want For Christmas is White Genocide” has resigned from his tenured position.
George Ciccariello-Maher, who teaches politics and global studies, announced his resignation in a Twitter post Thursday, citing that his situation has become “unsustainable” in light of prolonged threats against him and his family.
“After December 31st 2017, I will no longer work at Drexel University. This is not a decision I take lightly; however, after nearly a year of prolonged harassment by right-wing white supremacist media outlets and internet mobs…my situation has grown unsustainable,” he wrote. “Staying at Drexel in the eye of this storm has become detrimental to my own writing, speaking, and organizing."
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Although Ciccariello-Maher first came under scrutiny after wishing for “white genocide” last December, his subsequent tweets throughout 2017 also drew further controversy.
In March, Ciccariello-Maher made national news after he tweeted that he “tried not to vomit” after he watched an airplane passenger give up his first-class seat for a uniformed soldier; in November, he claimed “whiteness” caused the mass shooting in Las Vegas that killed 56 and wounded 500 others.
Drexel said it had accepted his resignation in a statement released Thursday, and praised the “significant scholarly contributions that Professor Ciccariello-Maher has made to the field of political thought and his service to the Drexel University community as an outstanding classroom teacher.”
Saying only that Ciccariello-Maher had resigned “in order to pursue other opportunities,” the brief communique closed by wishing him well “in his future pursuits.”
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Going forward, Ciccariello-Maher said that he plans to continue his activism, particularly as it pertains to combating “the Right” on college campuses.
“I look forward to deepening my research, my writing, and my political organizing in service of those movements most capable of confronting the urgent tasks of the present,” he wrote.
“They [the Right] will continue to attack me and many others, but from these attacks new unities spring dialectically forth,” the former professor proclaimed, citing “an upsurge in new AAUP chapters and the establishment of the Campus Antifascist Network (CAN), among others.”
Reached for comment by Campus Reform, Ciccariello-Maher said, “F**k ya’ll.”
Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @Toni_Airaksinen
