How Low Can a Tenured Professor Go on Twitter? Fresno Case Could Be a Test

When the president of California State University at Fresno said “all options are on the table” in dealing with a professor whose tweets about Barbara Bush set off a firestorm of controversy this week, it was music to the ears of those who worried tenure might make her untouchable.

But his observation that “Just because you’re a tenured professor doesn’t mean you can do or say whatever you wish,” set off alarm bells in other circles.

Free-speech warriors swooped in to criticize the president, Joseph I. Castro, for his switch in tone. On Wednesday night, in the midst of Randa Jarrar’s Twitter tirade, Castro had suggested his hands were tied because the English professor was speaking as a private citizen and her statements, while offensive, reflected her personal views.

She was, after all, on leave from the university this semester and tweeting from her personal account.

The backlash against Fresno State was swift and brutal as thousands of emails, phone calls, and tweets began flooding into Castro’s office. Many people were deeply offended by Jarrar’s tweets, which gleefully celebrated the death at age 92 of the former first lady, whom she called “an amazing racist” who helped raise a “war criminal.” They complained that the president was being too soft on Jarrar and demanded action.

In an interview on Thursday, Castro said his initial statement, which came while the professor’s hours-long Twitter rant was just beginning, was meant to offer condolences to the Bush family and to make it clear that Jarrar’s views didn’t reflect the university’s.

As the evening went on, the actions of the professor, an author and essayist who teaches creative writing, became more troubling, the president said.

Jarrar taunted her critics on Twitter, saying that because she had tenure, she’d never be fired. She mentioned her salary, her employer, and Castro by name.

That, some suggest, could open the door a crack to making the case that she was tweeting as a professor, not just as a private citizen.

Then there’s the matter of the suicide hotline. “There are a lot of things the professor said and did on that evening, including putting out a phone number she presented as hers but was actually a hotline at ASU,” Castro said.

The phone number went to an after-hours crisis and suicide help line at Arizona State University, officials confirmed. Tying up such a line and preventing students in crisis from reaching counselors should, in itself, be grounds for punishment, some said.

But others argue just as vehemently that punishing someone for what they say on social media undercuts the purpose of tenure.

Among those who came to Jarrar’s defense was Steven G. Salaita, whose case became a cause célèbre for academic freedom after the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign rescinded a job offer to him in 2014 because of incendiary tweets he posted about Israel. Salaita said Fresno State was “encouraging the mob” to attack a “brilliant writer” when it should be defending Jarrar.

Castro said the university is reviewing the matter carefully and fairly in the context of the collective-bargaining agreement it has with the faculty. That document outlines procedures that should be followed for any disciplinary action, including a reprimand, suspension, or dismissal.

“Each member of our university community has the right to freedom of speech, but with that right comes responsibility,” Castro said.

“We are preparing the next generation of leaders, and I believe we have a responsibility to role-model what leadership is,” he added. “Clearly, what happened that night didn’t role-model leadership, and it’s important for us to talk about that. There are notions of common decency and respect that we’re teaching about in the classroom.”

Castro said it is too early to speculate on how, or even whether, Jarrar might be sanctioned.

Jarrar continued to ignore requests for comment on Thursday. Her personal website says she doesn’t read or respond to messages about Barbara Bush, followed by a heart emoji.

Her twitter account was reset to private, and emails were not returned.

‘Pure, Unadulterated Hatred’

In her Twitter outburst, Jarrar said that she was “happy the witch is dead” and that she “can’t wait” for the demise of the rest of the Bush family. That got one biomedical science researcher thinking about what causes someone to become so bitter.

“Let’s set aside the issues of free speech and tenure to focus on a bigger underlying concern,” Alex Berezow, a senior fellow of biomedical science, wrote in an article for the American Council on Science and Health. “The psychology of pure, unadulterated hatred. How does a person become so consumed with animosity for a fellow human being?”

Jarrar demonstrates some of the stages of the “psychopathology of hate” identified by a behavioral analyst for the FBI, Berezow concludes. For instance, the haters find other haters to validate their feelings, and they disparage and taunt the target, the article noted. Although she stopped short of violence, “Randa Jarrar is in need of some serious self-reflection and soul-searching, as improbable as that seems,” Berezow wrote.

Meanwhile, the controversy is providing colleges nationwide with a test case in how far a faculty member can go on social media and still remain employed.

An official with the American Association of University Professors said the association’s standards do recognize some limits on faculty members’ freedom of speech.

“Academic freedom does protect a faculty member’s speech in his or her capacity as a citizen,” Gregory F. Scholtz, director of the department of academic freedom, tenure, and governance, wrote in an email. “However, that does not mean that faculty members can never be dismissed for extramural speech.” If that speech “clearly demonstrates” their professional unfitness — a situation the association says is uncommon — they can be dismissed.

Henry Reichman, a professor emeritus of history at California State University-East Bay, chairs the association’s committee on academic freedom and tenure.

“There is little doubt in my mind that the professor’s tweets, while arguably ill-considered and quite foolish, are protected speech,” he wrote in an email to The Chronicle. “They were made in her capacity as a citizen and as such constitute what the AAUP calls extramural expression.” Such statements, he said, “constitute grounds for discipline only if they clearly demonstrate a lack of fitness for one’s position.”

Because she is protected by both tenure and a collective-bargaining agreement, Jarrar enjoys significant due-process protections, Reichman said. He called Castro’s statement that “all options” are on the table “both inaccurate and irresponsible.”

“While it is true that tenure does not permit faculty members to say or do whatever they want, it does clearly protect the specific statements that this faculty member made, however much the administration or anyone else, myself included, may find them offensive,” Reichman said.

Castro’s revised statement saying an investigation was underway prompted a coalition of free-speech advocates, including the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education and the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, to write a letter to the president on Thursday, calling that action unfounded.

Opening such a probe “after previously acknowledging her right to freedom of expression — is plainly aimed at quelling anger over Jarrar’s expression generated by social media,” the letter states. “But the university’s response is antithetical to a core value of our democracy: the right to express views on issues central to our national conversation in ways that might be provocative or disagreeable.”

In a statement late Thursday that reflected the pull Castro is receiving from both sides, he stressed that he is a “fervent supporter” of academic freedom and that Fresno State is striving to honor it in a way that also promotes constructive dialogue. “I recognize that in the exercise of free speech rights, individuals may present personal opinions in a provocative manner,” he wrote, “and I also value the First Amendment rights of individuals, even when others may find the speech unpleasant and inappropriate.”

Katherine Mangan writes about community colleges, completion efforts, and job training, as well as other topics in daily news. Follow her on Twitter @KatherineMangan, or email her at katherine.mangan@chronicle.com.