Texas Tech students protest after university suspends professor for anti-Semitic posts

Students protested Thursday afternoon near the Texas Tech Administration Building as a show of support for a faculty member who was suspended earlier this week after Tech leaders say he made anti-Semitic social media posts.

The Texas Tech Chapter of Student for Justice in Palestine hosted a rally outside of the university president's office, with a couple of dozen students showing support for Jairo Fúnez-Flores, an assistant professor in the College of Education.

As reported by the Texas Tribune, Fúnez-Flores was suspended on Monday after the university discovered what it deems were "hateful, antisemitic, and unacceptable" remarks made by him on social media about the Israel-Hamas war.

Texas Tech President Lawrence Schovanec and TTU System Chancellor Tedd Mitchell issued a joint statement saying:

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.

An official investigation by the university is underway; however, Fúnez-Flores said the university jumped to a conclusion when suspending him, saying he was not talking about Jewish people in his remarks.

"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. "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," Fúnez-Flores said.

He did admit that he knew he would face backlash for his comments — given the political climate and its involvement in education in Texas — but does not apologize for what he said.

"I've expressed already to some (administrator) that no matter what happens, whatever decision they're gonna make, that I was ready for the consequences," Fúnez-Flores said.

His stance and plight have gained attention from faculty, staff and students nationwide with a letter signed by over 2,000 individuals as of Thursday night in support of him.

Ahmad Altabaa, a senior at Tech and a member of SJP, encouraged those students in attendance to contact their student senators from their respective colleges to support a legislative measure that was presented in front of the Student Senate of the TTU Student Government Association.

"Some senators of SGA are going to put forth a piece requesting that administration the administration immediately withdraw Dr. Jairo Fúnez-Flores' suspension and reinstate him to the university and issue a public apology for the defamatory language that they use," Altabaa said.

The Avalanche-Journal reached out to Texas Tech for comment about the protest; however, a spokesperson redirected the community to the joint statement from Schovanec and Mitchell.

On Friday afternoon, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a national free speech organization, released the following statement to the Avalanche-Journal stating that it was also sent to Texas Tech:

"Texas Tech is far from the only university to crack down on free expression related to the Israeli-Hamas conflict. But its actions have been among the most egregious." 

"The university’s suspension of assistant professor Jairo Fúnez-Flores for his social media activity raises grave concerns for free expression on Texas Tech’s campus. The First Amendment, which binds Texas Tech, provides strong protections for political expression, including faculty’s right to speak their minds on matters of public concern as private citizens. Fúnez-Flores’s social media posts are fully protected by the First Amendment."

"The university is now investigating Fúnez-Flores as he remains suspended. Simply put, the university cannot use the fact that it views Fúnez-Flores’s political expression as “antithetical” to the university’s values as the sole reason to suspend him. Texas Tech needs to immediately correct this situation by returning Fúnez-Flores to the classroom."

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech students protest for professor suspended for anti-Semitic posts