Gone, But Not Forgotten

Gone, but not forgotten: Deleted Twitter account

UC-Merced has a problem:

From the San Francisco Chronicle, 12-26-20: It wasn’t clear last week whether the UC Merced School of Engineering planned to take any action against a professor who maintained a Twitter account replete with anti-Semitic remarks and images. Abbas Ghassemi tweeted multiple antisemitic posts using “IsraHell” in place of “Israel,” and posted images found on antisemitic conspiracy websites, according to a report Monday from the Jewish News of Northern California.* 

The account was deactivated on Dec. 18 after the news outlet reached out for comment about the account, which was registered to “@ProfessorGhass1,” but not before screenshots of the tweets were archived. The account was created in July 2019. “As the now-inactive Twitter account made clear, these were the opinions of a private individual, not the positions of the institution,” said James Chiavelli, the assistant vice chancellor of external relations at UC Merced, in an email to The Chronicle. Citing university policy, Chiavelli added that UC Merced is “committed” to upholding the right to free expression and encouraging “a culture of dialogue, understanding, and civility in all interactions.”

Source: https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Report-UC-Merced-professor-maintained-Twitter-15822554.php

From the Fresno Bee and Sacramento Bee, 12-22-20: It was unclear Tuesday whether UC Merced would take action against a professor whose personal Twitter account allegedly shared anti-Semitic tropes and other disparaging comments and images about Jewish people.

Professor Abbas Ghassemi, a faculty member at the UC Merced School of Engineering, deleted his Twitter account last week containing a slew of offensive posts, according to the Jewish News of Northern California, an online news site that first revealed the Tweets in a story Tuesday.

Ghassemi’s account, which was created in 2019, was registered to “@ProfessorGhass1” and contained posts accused of peddling anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. Before deleting his account, he had published or retweeted more than 2,200 times, the site, which also calls itself “J.,” reported.

The Jewish News of Northern California said it had archived the tweets before the account was deactivated and published the remarks Monday, showing one recent example where Ghassemi posted an image of a “Zionist brain” with labels that included a “frontal money lobe,” “Holocaust memory centre” and “world domination lobe” with the caption “reality bites!!!!!!”*

The same image of the “Zionist brain” said the “‘compassion for others’ gland is not shown due to its small and underdeveloped nature, best viewed under a microscope.” He also frequently used “IsraHell” in place of “Israel” in many of his posts, the news site reported.

Ghassemi could not be reached Tuesday after multiple requests for comment.

A university spokesperson on Tuesday said the comments posted on Ghassemi’s account did not reflect the opinions of UC Merced.

“As the now-inactive Twitter account made clear, these were the opinions of a private individual, not the positions of the institution,” James Chiavelli, the assistant vice chancellor of external relations at UC Merced, told The Bee in a statement.

Chiavelli added that the university’s principles include a right to free speech.

“Under our principles of community, UC Merced is committed to ‘uphold the right to freedom of expression and encourage a culture of dialogue, understanding, and civility in all interactions,’” he said.

Chiavelli did not respond to questions about whether the university would take disciplinary action or terminate the professor.

The Jewish Federation of Central California, one of the Valley’s most prominent Jewish organizations, called Ghassemi’s remarks “reprehensible” and “hateful.”

“The current wave of verbal and physical attacks against Jews, Muslims, Blacks and Latinx demonstrate the need to continually educate our community about tolerance, democratic ideals and appreciation of each other as individuals or religious and ethnic identities,” said Phyllis Farrow, executive director for the Jewish Federation of Central California.

Ghassemi received his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Oklahoma in 1979 and pursued a doctorate degree from New Mexico State University from 1988-91, according to his profile on the university website. He taught as a professor at New Mexico State University for 25 years before obtaining his UC Merced position in 2018.

UC Merced is the newest public research institution from the University of California system. Founded in 2005, UC Merced is located in between the cities of Modesto and Fresno in the central San Joaquin Valley. As of 2020, it holds a population of about 9,000 students and 1,600 faculty.

Source: https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article248039590.html and https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/article248039590.html

Note: The individual in question is listed on UC-Merced websites as both Professor-Emeritus, i.e., retired, and "Teaching Professor" suggesting courses are still being given.

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*Image can be see at https://forward.com/news/national/460786/uc-merced-professor-deletes-antisemitism-laden-twitter-account/