Calls are mounting for the removal of a white sociology professor in North Carolina who flouted the state’s coronavirus restrictions and addressed the governor as “Massa Cooper” on Twitter.
Officials at the University of North Carolina Wilmington have referred to professor Mike Adams’s tweet as “vile” but have declined to dismiss him, citing the Constitution’s protection of even incendiary speech.
“UNCW is aware of the outrage and sadness being expressed in regard to comments made by a UNCW faculty member,” the university said in a statement that did not mention Mr. Adams by name. “However, no matter how upsetting and distasteful the comments may be, they are expressions of free speech and protected by the First Amendment.”
A few weeks ago, Mr. Adams had dined with six other men at a six-seat table. None of the men wore masks or practiced social distancing in accordance with the state’s coronavirus protocols. The professor crowed about the event on Twitter.
He tweeted that he “felt like a free man who was not living in the slave state of North Carolina” and called on Gov. Roy Cooper to lift his executive order limiting social gatherings, tweeting “Massa Cooper, let my people go.”
Mr. Cooper, a Democrat, did not respond to the tweet.
An online petition with nearly 60,000 signatures, with supportive statements from Hollywood actors, is calling for the professor’s ouster amid a backdrop of fears over new COVID-19 cases and protests against police brutality on people of color.
North Carolina has seen steep increases in the spread of the coronavirus since Memorial Day, with more than 1,000 new case reported Wednesday. But the professor’s use of the term “massa,” affecting the dialect of enslaved people and invoking the state’s slave history, has drawn the most strident criticism.
The online petition to remove Mr. Adams refers to him as a “thorn in the side” of the school.
“A respective university is a place of learning and sharing of ideas, not threats and harassment,” the petition reads.
Mr. Adams previously has won a lawsuit against the university over administrators using his conservative statements against him in his pursuit of tenure.
On Monday, actor Orlando Jones, a resident of Wilmington, tweeted about Mr. Adams recent comments.
Actress Sophia Bush, who starred in the hit CW show “One Tree Hill,” also called on fans of the show to take action. “One Tree Hill,” which ended its run in 2012 after nine seasons, was filmed in Wilmington.
A costar of the show, Hilarie Burton Morgan, chimed in, saying she was encouraging students not to attend the university until Mr. Adams is fired.
Mr. Adams did not respond to a request for comment. His Twitter account refers to him as a “pro-life speaker” and a columnist for Town Hall and The Daily Wire.
In an earlier post, he told critics who were writing to the school for his firing to leave him their mailing address so he can send them “a box of panty liners.”
Mr. Adams has a history of drawing collegial condemnation for his views. In 2018, the faculty at the University of Montana opposed his visit to the campus, noting his “long record of mocking, demeaning and verbally attacking women, people of color, members of the Islamic faith and the LGBTQ community.”
And in 2016 Mr. Adams posted an article about a student activist field “A ’Queer Muslim’ Jihad,” according to the News & Observer, a Raleigh newspaper.
• Christopher Vondracek can be reached at cvondracek@washingtontimes.com.
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