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FSU Professor Resigns After Racist Facebook Comments

FSU Professor Resigns After Racist Facebook Comments
Reuters
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(Editor's note: Language in paragraphs 3 and 4 may be offensive to some readers.)

By Bill Cotterell

TALLAHASSEE, Fla., Dec 9 (Reuters) - A Florida State University professor said she has resigned after making racial and homosexual slurs in a heated Facebook exchange about recent police killings of unarmed blacks.

Deborah O'Connor, an 18-year faculty member of the FSU College of Business, said on Tuesday she was stepping down after several comments she made on Facebook were published by Folio Weekly, a Jacksonville alternative newspaper that contacted FSU about them on Dec. 5.

In a discussion on the social media website, O'Connor referred to "Northern fagoot (sic) elitism" and made disparaging remarks about Muslims.

"Obama has single-handedly turned our once great society into a Ghetto Culture, rivaling that of Europe. France is almost at war because of his filthy rodent Muslims who are attacking Native Frenchmen and women," O'Connor wrote in one response to a stranger on the Facebook thread, which has since been deleted.

O'Connor said she had planned to retire next spring, but brought her decision forward after some of her Facebook comments were forwarded to FSU, a major state-run university in Tallahassee. The school doesn't have an official policy on what faculty can say on social media.

O'Connor said in a letter to the university that the bitter exchange was "the only black mark" on her employment record in the past 40 years.

"I sense that the path of least resistance is for me to resign to forestall a litigation, although I must emphasize that I do not believe the punishment fits the 'crime,'" she wrote.

FSU officials did not comment on the resignation.

O'Connor said she has deleted her Facebook account and will never use the website again. (Editing By David Adams and Alan Crosby)

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Before You Go

10 College Profs And Faculty Behaving Badly
Max Reinhart(01 of08)
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Max Reinhart, a 65-year-old professor of Germanic and Slavic studies at the University of Georgia, was arrested and charged with prostituting himself for $60 and for allegedly running a prostitution house.Reinhart allegedly posed as a woman named "Sasha" in the transexual escort services section of Backpage.com, a well-known classifieds website targeted by activists and law enforcement alike for its featured advertisements.
Gamal El-Zoghby(02 of08)
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Firefighters discovered child pornography while putting out a fire at the waterfront home of 76-year-old Gamal El-Zoghby in New Jersey in January 2012. The AP reported that the firefighters were checking for hidden pockets of flame behind the walls by pulling down panels of sheet rock when a single magazine from the 1970s with pornographic images of pre-pubescent girls fell from behind one of the panels. The firefighters also found 60 to 70 vintage Playboy and Hustler magazines. (credit:NBC 10)
Bill Burnett(03 of08)
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On the Friday after Thanksgiving, Stanford Professor Bill Burnett and his wife Cynthia hosted a party for their son and his friends -- 16 and 17-year-olds -- to celebrate a football win. They bought chips and soda, but were clear about one rule: no alcohol allowed.Cops arrived, responding to a noise complaint and allegations that there was underaged drinking. Though the Burnetts insisted that there was no drinking, the police found alcohol that, they say, the teens snuck in.Burnett was arrested and charged with 44 counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor -- one for each teen at the party. Because of social host laws, parents are liable when underage kids drink on their property -- even if they're unaware that it's happening. (credit:NBC News - Today Show)
J. Wesley Boyd(04 of08)
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J. Wesley Boyd, a psychiatrist who teaches at Harvard Medical School, and his wife, Theonia, a pathologist who also teaches at the medical school, were arrested at a party after police alleged that underage drinking was happening. Boyd said he and his wife had told the students that there would be no drugs or alcohol allowed at the party. He also said he and his wife and another couple had monitored the party without seeing any alcohol.But several of the students admitted that they had been hiding the drinking from him. (credit:Alamy)
Donald Ratcliff(05 of08)
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In March, Wheaton College professor Donald Ratcliff was arrested for allegedly possessing child pornography and two unlicensed handguns. Ratcliff was charged with two counts of Aggravated Child Pornography and was placed on administrative leave. He taught Christian education and child spirituality. (credit:ABC 7)
CUNY Faculty(06 of08)
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Protests aren't just for students. In a demonstration protesting Gov. Andrew Cuomo's cuts to CUNY's senior and community campuses, 33 members of CUNY's Professional Staff Congress union were arrested , in acts of civil disobedience. (credit:PSC Facebook)
Cornell West(07 of08)
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Princeton University professor Cornell West was a big supporter of Occupy Wall Street and traveled to a few of the movement's camps. West was arrested in an act of civil disobedience with 18 others on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court building in a demonstration against the Citizens United decision. (credit:RT)
Kenneth Ng(08 of08)
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California State University economics professor Kenneth Ng openly admitted to being the scribe behind BigBabyKenny.com, a site that guides tourists through Thailand's sex trade. Ng defended his blogging on the site as "free speech."
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