Texas Tech University has suspended a professor for social media posts it described as “hateful, antisemitic, and unacceptable.”
Jairo Fúnez-Flores, an assistant professor at Texas Tech’s College of Education, wrote several posts on X in defense of Hamas’ terrorist attacks in Israel on October 7, 2023, as reported by the Texas Scorecard last month.
In a statement on Monday from President Lawrence Schovanec and Chancellor Tedd Mitchell, the university announced that it had suspended Fúnez-Flores.
“Assistant Professor Jairo Fúnez-Flores posted a series of social media comments that we find to be hateful, antisemitic, and unacceptable. These social media comments are antithetical to our values,” the statement reads, per Texas Scorecard.
“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 (TTU),” the statement added.
The professor quoted Palestinian poet Darren Tatour on the day of Hamas’ terrorist attacks that killed roughly 1,200 Israelis.
“Resist, my people, resist them,” the quote reads. “In Jerusalem, I dressed my wounds and breathed my sorrows and carried the soul in my palm for an Arab Palestine. I will not succumb to the ‘peaceful solution,’ never lower my flags until I evict them from my land.”
Other posts from the professor reported on by Texas Scorecard included a defense of the Hamas attacks as an example of “self-determination,” “resisting dehumanization,” and “justice.”
Fúnez-Flores is suspended with pay pending an investigation from the Office of Equal Opportunity (OEO) at the Texas Tech University System.
“OEO will investigate whether any of the antisemitic sentiments expressed by Professor Funez-Flores’ social media comments have found their way into the classroom or the work environment and are deemed to be discriminatory harassment,” the university said. “If it is determined by OEO that discriminatory harassment has occurred, TTU will take prompt and effective action.”