Texas Tech professor's suspension lifted after investigation for alleged anti-Semitic remarks
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Texas Tech Assistant Professor Jairo Fúnez-Flores can return to work following a six-week suspension and investigation by the Tech Office of Equal Opportunity prompted by allegedly anti-Semtic social media posts, the university announced late Friday.
The investigation found that personal social media posts the professor made about the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel and subsequent military operations and violence didn't equate to a violation of Tech's policy against discriminatory harassment.
But Tech President Lawrence Schovanec and TTU System Chancellor Tedd L. Mitchell still "deplore" the comments he made on social media and insist the university will not tolerate anti-Semitism, according to a joint statement from Tech.
Fúnez-Flores was placed on suspension in early March pending the results of an investigation to be conducted by the Texas Tech University System Office of Equal Opportunity, the university announced at the time.
The purpose of the OEO investigation was to determine whether the personal sentiments posted on social media by Fúnez-Flores were expressed in the classroom or work environment, and if there were any incidents of discriminatory harassment in violation of Texas Tech policy or the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) Dear Colleague Letter.
After completing the investigation, OEO did not find evidence of a violation of Texas Tech policy for discriminatory harassment, according to the statement Tech released Friday. As a result, Fúnez-Flores’ suspension with pay has concluded, and he is cleared to return to his job functions.
Suspension, investigation and response
Through Tech's OEO investigation, the office found that between October 2023 and February 2024, Fúnez-Flores, an assistant professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction in the College of Education, posted several comments and quotes on social media that were related to the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.
On March 4, Texas Tech University System and TTU administrators suspended Fúnez-Flores with pay, pending an investigation by the OEO.
Following Fúnez-Flores' suspension, Mitchell and Schovanec released a joint statement in early March.
"We take the First Amendment’s application to public universities seriously; however, we are also committed to providing a safe learning and working environment that is free from harassment, including antisemitic harassment, and will not tolerate behavior that crosses the line into harassment and interferes with or limits the ability of an individual to participate in the educational activities of Texas Tech University."
At that time, Fúnez-Flores told the Avalanche-Journal that he knew making those comments on social media would get him in trouble given the political climate and its involvement in education in Texas, but he does not apologize for what he said.
"I think there is a conflation between a critique of a nation-state with the critique of the people of that nation-state," he said on March 8. "We see this often with the critique of other nation-states, or Russia or the government of Russia or China or any other nation-state really. It never means the people."
Friday's statement from Mitchel and Schovanec continues:
"After evaluating the information gathered during the investigation, we found no evidence that (Fúnez-Flores) shared or discussed the views he posted on X regarding the Israel-Hamas conflict in the classroom or work environment, and we found no evidence that his conduct in the classroom or work environment constituted discriminatory harassment based on race or religion. Therefore, we concluded there has been no violation of TTUS Regulation 07.10 (Non-Discrimination and Anti-Harassment Policy and Complaint Procedure)."
Schovanec and Mitchell shared their opposition to the views Fúnez-Flores posted on social media.
"It is important to reiterate that we deplore the social media posts by Prof. Fúnez-Flores’ and find them to be hateful, antisemitic, and antithetical to our Code of Ethics," their statement reads. "The sentiments he has expressed are antisemitic according to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism. This definition has also been adopted by Texas Government Code, the U.S. Department of State, and the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights," Schovanec wrote.
The chancellor and president went on to reiterate the university's commitment to academic freedom in the classroom and abiding by the First Amendment, expecting clashes of viewpoints and opinions; however, "Personal attacks or insults have no place in the Texas Tech campus environment."
Both wrote that they recognized the right to express personal thoughts and opinions, but in a manner befitting the position the individual holds at Texas Tech and in the community.
"As educators, we are responsible for much more than preparing our students for a professional career. Our words and actions should help students to become responsible citizens, prepared to engage with others who may have differing views in a civil and respectful manner," they stated in his email. "Prof. Fúnez-Flores’ social media comments fail to fulfill this broader responsibility."
They closed out the email by stating the university "will proactively comply with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights’ Dear Colleague Letter prohibiting antisemitic harassment on college campuses, as well as Governor Abbott’s Executive Order No. GA-44 issued on March 27, 2024, prohibiting antisemitism at Texas public institutions of higher education."
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: TTU investigation clears professor of antisemitic remarks allegations
