ADVERTISEMENT

Clemson University Assistant Professor Labels All Republicans 'Racist Scum'

Clemson University student center
Clemson University student center / Wikimedia Commons
August 23, 2017

An assistant professor at South Carolina's Clemson University has called for violence against white supremacists and labeled Republicans "racist scum" on his Facebook page.

Bart Knijnenburg, who teaches in the School of Computing, allegedly wrote in recent posts, "I admire anyone who stands up against white supremacy. Violent or non-violent," with the hashtag "#PunchNazis."

He also denounced "All republicans" as responsible for alt-right violence and demanded they either "denounce" and "renounce" their GOP affiliation, "or admit you're a racist."

The posts were republished by Campus Reform, which also included responses to Knijnenburg in his Facebook comments.

One individual wrote, "We must be careful not to generalize as this is arguably the root cause of the extreme right's existence."

"I've always looked up to you, as my 1st yr mentor but also for passing on the idea to study abroad. But it saddens me a bit to see this coming from you," the man added.

"You should come live in the south for a while. It's exhausting," Knijnenburg responded on Aug. 16. "Many of my students belong to minority group (black, immigrant, LGBTQ+)…The pushback they get from conservatives — even decent, non-Trump-voting ones — is incredibly disheartening. The republican ideology of 'everyone is equal and nobody deserves a handout' is naive at best, covertly racist at worst."

In another post Knijnenburg wrote, "This society is aggressively structured to make cis white males succeed, at the expense of minorities."

In his online academic profile, Knijnenburg described his research as answering questions such as, "Should I post this on Facebook or not?"

John Gouch, assistant director/online news manager of the Clemson Newsstand and Mark Land, vice president for university relations, said in a statement, "The university is aware of remarks attributed to a Clemson faculty member, which appear to have come from his personal Facebook account. Those remarks are not reflective of the university's views, and university leadership has consistently made it clear that expressions advocating violence or hatred have no place on this, or any, college campus."

The university would not say if they would be taking any further action.

Neither Knijnenburg nor the School of Computing responded to requests for comment.