Professor suspended after saying it’s ‘more admirable to kill’ speakers than to protest
April 7, 2023
A professor at Wayne State University in Detroit has been suspended after he advocated for killing speakers he disagrees with.
The professor, Steven Shaviro, was responding to the Stanford Law School students who shouted down a conservative judge. Accuracy in Media responded by sending mobile billboards to the Stanford campus to hold those students accountable. Shaviro took to Facebook to respond, saying that the protesters did not go far enough in a post that began, “So here is what I think about free speech on campus.”
“Although I do not advocate violating federal and state criminal codes, I think it is far more admirable to kill a racist, homophobic, or transphobic speaker than it is to shout them down,” Shaviro wrote.
“When right-wing groups invite such speakers to campus, it is precisely because they want to provoke an incident that discredits the left, and gives more publicity and validation to these reprehensible views than they could otherwise attain,” Shaviro continued.
“The exemplary historical figure in this regard is Sholem Schwarzbard, who assassinated the anti-Semitic butcher Symon Petliura, rather than trying to shout him down. Remember that Schwarzbard was acquitted by a jury, which found his action justified,” he concluded.
The president of Wayne State University has announced that Shaviro has been suspended, according to Reason.