TCU professor receives backlash after advocating on social media to abolish police
FORT WORTH – A Texas Christian University professor is in hot water after her comments on social media rubbed some Tarrant County leaders the wrong way.
In her fourth year as an English professor, Alexandra Edwards comments frequently on X about "abolishing the police."
Some posts are from yesterday, others date back to 2021, all with similar verbiage.
In one post, Edwards elaborated on her beliefs, stating, "Between 2012 and 2022, I began studying police abolition and eventually came to a point where I describe part of my politics using that term. It's because the systems of policing and imprisonment in this country stole someone from me who I loved very much."
In other posts, she describes officers not as "first responders" but as police who brutalize people.
Tarrant County leaders have reacted to her social media posts.
"Anarchy is dangerous. Abolishing the police is dangerous. We need the police," said Tarrant County Commissioner Manny Ramirez, a TCU alumnus and former president of the Fort Worth Police Officers Association.
Ramirez said this type of rhetoric in the classroom is dangerous.
"The concerning thing is whenever you hear that somebody in a position of authority is using that type of rhetoric, we recognize how damaging that can be for a community and for the reputation of that institution," Ramirez said.
It's unclear if Edwards discusses her beliefs in class, but a post from 2021 shows she was "very seriously considering teaching about the movement to abolish campus police," adding that she would "invite students to research campus police and see what they find."
"[Teachers] directly impact the thoughts and the minds of our youth, who are going to be the next generation of leaders in our community," Ramirez said.
Ramirez noted that Fort Worth police have always had a great relationship with TCU.
CBS News Texas reached out to TCU for comment but did not receive a response. Edwards also declined to comment.
In the meantime, Ramirez hopes some accountability can shed light on a larger issue at hand.
"If you're representing an institution, then certainly there ought to be guidelines and there ought to be consequences," Ramirez said.