As Twitchy reported, a lecturer at Fresno State recently found himself an Internet celebrity after tweets he posted back in February, calling for the hanging of President Trump and the execution of two Republicans for each immigrant deported under his “terror regime,” surfaced.
It turns out that even on college campuses in 2017, free speech is not free of consequences, although as of yet, it’s not entirely clear what those consequences might be.
Fresno State says FBI, Secret Service probing professor’s tweets about President Trump https://t.co/Xo3EECLEwg
— Shelby Grad (@shelbygrad) April 13, 2017
According to the Fresno Bee, Lars Maischak issued an apology for his tweets and deleted his Twitter account, but he also caught the attention of the FBI, the Secret Service, and the Department of Homeland Security.
As for the school’s response, President Joseph Castro said Wednesday that “he is not ready to judge Maischak because the university is in the initial stages of its investigation.” He released a statement earlier this week noting the “violent and threatening language” in Maishcak’s tweets, which he said were “inconsistent with the core values of our University.”
#ICYMI: Fresno State president @JosephICastro released a statement regarding history professor’s tweets about President Trump: pic.twitter.com/rQYqnyeaDl
— The Fresno State Collegian (@TheCollegian) April 10, 2017
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In his apology, published in the Fresno Bee, Maischak noted that he never expected his tweets to be seen beyond his 28 followers:
I apologize for the tone and content of my statements made on Twitter.
I ask forgiveness of those who felt threatened or offended by them.
It was never my intent to harm anyone, nor to encourage others to harm anyone.
My statements each represent the end point of a dark train of thought triggered by my despair over the actions of the present U.S. government.
That is what I meant by calling them “dark predictions.”
It felt cathartic at the time to write them down.
With 28 followers on Twitter at the time, I never expected them to be read by anyone but a close circle of acquaintances who would know to place them in their context.
To treat Twitter as of no more consequence than a journal was a poor decision.
I have deleted my Twitter account, to preclude the possibility that anyone reading my statements in the future would take them as encouragement to act violently or unlawfully.
In this spirit, I am prepared to take full responsibility for my statements.
#BREAKING: Fresno State professor apologizes for ‘Trump must hang’ tweet https://t.co/kLlvPbUSTk
— Fresno Bee (@FresnoBee) April 12, 2017
The apology seems sincere, but we’d still hate to a college Republican and know the man teaching our history class found it “cathartic” to fantasize online about executing members of party.
TOLERANCE: Dbag prof Lars Maischak tweets Trump should hang and Republicans should be executedhttps://t.co/ro8R1eU3MV
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) April 9, 2017
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