A professor about to begin at the University of Illinois was fired for anti-Israel tweets that he posted this summer. (Courtesy of Wikimedia)
By Cody Sims
What is one of the quickest ways to get fired nowadays? Steve Salaita, a former English professor at Virgina Tech, has the answer: misuse of social media. Salaita was preparing for his new job at the University of Illinois teaching Native American Studies this fall when he was suspended, and subsequently not reinstated, due to a series of anti-Israel statements he tweeted over the summer. It is only right that Salaita did not get the opportunity to set foot on campus.
It should be known that a university is going to hold all of its employees accountable as direct representatives of the university itself. While Salaita and his supporters may argue that his termination was a violation of his freedom of speech, they fail to realize that any university is not going to let one individual tarnish the university’s reputation.
Salaita is not the first person to be held accountable for questionable tweets, nor do I think he will be the last. In 2012, the University of Michigan dealt with a similar tweeting situation, although it was a student-athlete rather than a professor. Yuri Wright, an aggressively recruited cornerback from New Jersey, did not get the opportunity to play at his dream school because university officials deemed Wright’s tweets highly offensive. They revoked his athletic scholarship because he tweeted racially and sexually explicit comments. Granted, Wright and Salaita were not tweeting about the same things, but their tweets were similarly offensive.
It is understandable, however, that some may argue that individuals should be free to express their beliefs on their personal social media accounts.
Esther Kim, GSB ’15, said, “Everyone should be able to tweet their own individual thoughts as long as it is your personal twitter. If you don’t like what someone tweets, you can simply unfollow them.” On the contrary, once you are representing a university, either as a student-athlete or a professor, you are being monitored and judged all of the time. Although this may not be “fair,” it is reality.
There are certain unwritten rules someone in the public eye must follow. Before tweeting, Salaita should have kept in mind that his questionable tweets could lead to the University of Illinois questioning his character. While it may be tempting to tweet the first thing that comes to mind, it may not be the best choice to share all of your thoughts with the cyber world. You never truly know who is following your social network activities if your profile is accessible to the public.
Salaita may never be reinstated and it is his own fault. Nonetheless, we can learn from his poor judgment. Social networking may be a way for you to share your thoughts with others; however, 140 characters seem to be enough to get people into a great deal of trouble.
Cody Sims, FCRH ’15, is a communication and media studies major from Oakland, California.
