William Jacobson: 'One of the most disgusting cases that I've seen'
Professor William Jacobson discusses how the 'mob' descended on a professor at the University of Central Florida for disputing the notion of systemic racism.
Charles Negy, a University of Central Florida (UCF) professor who says he was fired after speaking out against the notion of systemic racism and White privilege, doesn’t believe diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) applies to everyone.
UCF fired Negy, he claims, after he sent a pair of tweets in the summer of 2020 – at the height of racial tensions in America following the death of George Floyd in police custody – that questioned the belief of systemic racism and White privilege. He finds it odd that the university’s website claims, "Our motto is simple: Diversity includes all of us – at the same time," because he feels there are different sets of rules for different types of peoples.
"This notion of diversity, equity and inclusion, it’s a lot to unpack. It's not the nice sounding things that the words sound like. Diversity is pretty much anti-White and secondarily anti-Asian. Equity, of course, is showing favoritism for some racial groups at the expense of other racial groups, which is illegal, unconstitutional and immoral. And inclusion. Wow. Did I feel included because they didn't like my views? So, it seems like there are certain groups that are not included in inclusion," Negy told Fox News Digital.
Charles Negy, a University of Central Florida (UCF) professor at the center of a years-long saga, is fighting back after he was fired for speaking out against the notion of systemic racism and White privilege. He was later reinstated. (Charles Negy/University of Central Florida)
"Those groups tend to be White men, heterosexuals, cisgender -- which is kind of a slur against those who are not transgender --Christians, Republicans, conservative," Negy continued. "That's a lot of groups who don't seem to be so welcomed in this inclusivity model."
Negy, who is half White and half Hispanic, was eventually given his job back when an arbitrator ruled he did nothing wrong, and he filed a lawsuit last week accusing the university’s board of trustees of violating the First and Fourteenth Amendments, along with negligence, abuse of process, and intentional infliction of severe emotional distress.
"I am also gay, so I’m a minority, and boy, that doesn’t matter. It's the ideology that one must bow down to or else you are not included and accepted at all," he said.
He returned to campus last summer with COVID pandemic rules in place, meaning remote departmental meetings initially provided a buffer between the freshly reinstated professor and his colleagues. But in January, the meetings that feature more than 40 professors went back to being in person and Negy was able to get a sense of how his peers feel about the situation.
"They all ignored me," Negy said.
"I’m fine with that. I’m fine with that, because I’ve lost all respect for them," Negy continued. "They saw the university coming after me, because the university didn’t like what I said on Twitter. And instead of rallying around me in the name of free speech and academic freedom, they just sat by idly."
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Negy believes that roughly half the professors who have given him the silent treatment were "glad" he suffered through the years-long saga.
"They buy into this critical race theory/diversity, equity, inclusion, ideology," Negy said. "The other half, who probably may not buy into that ideology, were terrified at what they saw could happen to them. So, I think they just step by and out of self-preservation."
Negy said he’s specifically lost respect for the tenured professors, because he believes the whole point of tenure is to be able to express yourself without bring fearful of termination.
"I couldn't care less about them," he said. "So they don't speak to me. It's an awkward situation, but I don't care."
In 2020, Nagy asked in a tweet that is no-longer available, "If Afr. Americans as a group, had the same behavioral profile as Asian Americans (on average, performing the best academically, having the highest income, committing the lowest crime, etc.), would we still be proclaiming ‘systematic racism’ exists?"
The professor also tweeted, "Black privilege is real: Besides affirm. action, special scholarships and other set asides, being shielded from legitimate criticism is a privilege. But as a group, they’re missing out on much needed feedback."
UCF has maintained that Negy's firing was not because of his tweets, instead claiming he was fired because of student complaints and creating a hostile working environment.
"We are not able to comment at this time due to the litigation," a UCF spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
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"The purpose of the university, for my understanding, is for us to pursue truth to whatever extent that we can. It's always a challenge. We all have biases. But the reason we come together at university is to pursue truth related to whatever topics that interest us, and we can disagree, we can make mistakes. We can be challenged. We can challenge others, because we all share this common goal of trying to wrap our arms around truth," Negy said. "And that has changed dramatically in the last ten years, and it just went into high gear after George Floyd's death."
