Eric Rasmusen, a professor at Indiana University Bloomington, came under scrutiny for using his social media accounts to degrade women, people of color and gay men.
The incident sparked more uproar when the university put out a statement saying it cannot penalize or fire him for putting out the unpleasant tweets.
This began when Rasmusen retweeted an article titled; Are women destroying academia? Probably.
And quoted a comment from the article that focused on the intellectual supremacy of men, which state Geniuses are overwhelmingly male because they combine higher outlier IQ with moderately low agreeableness and conscientiousness.
“geniuses are overwhelmingly male because they combine outlier high IQ with moderately low Agreeableness and moderately low Conscientiousness.” https://t.co/cyfBX1ECSc
— Professor Eric Rasmusen (@erasmuse) November 7, 2019
Consequently, the account shared another tweet by him that belittles women.
Notably, Rasmusen for many years has used his social media accounts to promote his racist, sexist, and homophobic views. Recently he tweeted an article which focused on the economic benefits of slavery.
While, in 2003, he wrote a blog post where he claimed gay men are more likely to molest students and are not suited for moral exemplar professions such as teaching and preaching.
Indiana University response to Rasmusen tweets
School authorities condemned Rasmusen’s comments immediately the tweets went viral.
We're aware of the situation involving an IU faculty member. The beliefs expressed in those tweets do not reflect the values of Indiana University. IU will remain a place of tolerance and respect for all. See this statement from @IUBProvost Lauren Robel. pic.twitter.com/aLWd5FlOEL
— IU Bloomington (@IUBloomington) November 20, 2019
Lauren Robel, the university’s executive vice president and provost, condemned his social media posts in a statement. She further stated that Rasmusen expressed a shallow and stunningly misguided opinion. These notions that were more consistent with people who lived in the 18th century rather than the 21st century.
Robel explained, that Indiana University cannot dismiss Rasmusen because the First Amendment of the United States Constitution prohibits them from doing so.
Adding although, the University will put in place measures to protect students from been influenced by someone with Professor Rasmusen’s mentality.
These measures include; allowing students to opt-out of his classes, providing alternative classes by other faculty members. Also, requiring double-blind grading on all of Rasmusen’s students’ assignments, and having other staff check his grading in cases where double-blind grading is not possible.
People reactions towards Rasmusen’s post
Although, many negative reactions followed Rasmusen’s comment on the blog post. Many people tweeting against his foul statement. Rasmusen’s claimed he has been getting positive and encouraging emails regarding his post.
Adding that the number of his Twitter followers has proportionally increased from less than 400 to 833 from November 18th to 21st.
He also published letters on his website allegedly from supporters, encouraging him not to let the thought police shut him down.
