Drexel Professor Tweets He Was 'Trying Not To Vomit' After Passenger Gave Up First-Class Seat For Soldier
PHILADELPHIA (CBS)—A tweet posted by a Drexel University professor is stirring up some controversy.
George Ciccariello-Maher, is an associate professor of Politics and Global Studies at Drexel.
On Sunday he posted a tweet that read, "Some guy gave up his first class seat for a uniformed soldier. People are thanking him. I'm trying not to vomit or yell about Mosul."
The reference to Mosul came on the heels of an investigation into a U.S. military airstrike that reportedly killed 200 civilians.
This is not the first time Ciccariello-Maher has made headlines for his social media posts.
Around Christmas he tweeted, "All I want for Christmas is white genocide."
"He did it on his personal time, he has his own voice, he has the right to say them," said student Chad DiFrancesco. "It's America. First Amendment. So he can tweet whatever he want to tweet."
Despite the visceral reaction his words are receiving, the professor isn't backing down, saying in a statement, "I sent a personal tweet in reaction to what I considered a smug and self-congratulatory gesture by a first class passenger toward a uniformed soldier. Maybe predictably, my tweet has since been fed into and misrepresented by the outrage machine that is right wing media. Needless to say my personal views expressed off campus have absolutely nothing to do with those of my employer, Drexel University."
Some students CBS3 talked to say it would seem hard to separate the two.
"That means outside of work this is how you probably act and inside of work it's a different story so I don't think we need those types of people around students," said Aleisha Coulter, a student at Drexel.
In a statement, Drexel University says, "The recent social media comments by George Ciccariello-Maher were made outside the classroom, are his opinion and do not represent the university's views."
The professor has since made his Twitter account private.
At last check he has more than 10,000 followers.
