Rutgers Investigating Professor's Anti-White Facebook Rant

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — Rutgers University confirmed to Patch they are investigating a racist Facebook tirade made by a white professor, who said he "officially now hates white people" and complained a Harlem restaurant was "overrun with little Caucasian a**holes." It's also not the first time a Rutgers professor has expressed prejudiced or derogatory views on Facebook.

James Livingston, who has been a professor in the history department at Rutgers-New Brunswick since 2003, took to Facebook last week to complain that a restaurant in his neighborhood had become overrun with white children. The restaurant is Harlem Shake; Livingston lives in Harlem.

Livingston also said he "resigned" from his race.

"OK, officially, I now hate white people," Livingston wrote on his Facebook page. "I am a white people [sic], for God’s sake, but can we keep them — us — us out of my neighborhood? I just went to Harlem Shake on 124 and Lenox for a Classic burger to go, that would [be] my dinner, and the place is overrun with little Caucasian a**holes who know their parents will approve of anything they do. Slide around the floor, you little s**thead, sing loudly, you moron. Do what you want, nobody here is gonna restrict your right to be white."

He wrote the post last Thursday evening, May 31. It has since been deleted. But The Daily Caller, which first reported the story, took a screenshot.

Livingston defended the post a day later, on Friday, June 1, saying: "I just don't want little Caucasians overrunning my life, as they did last night. Please God, remand them to the suburbs, where they and their parents can colonize every restaurant, all the while pretending that the idiotic indulgence of their privilege signifies cosmopolitan — you know, as in sophisticated "European" — commitments."

A Rutgers spokeswoman told Patch on Thursday the taxpayer-funded state university is investigating his statements. In the meantime, Livingston is still getting paid his full salary and teaching classes.

"The matter was referred to the Office of Employment Equity at Rutgers University to investigate whether the comments violate university policies prohibiting discrimination and harassment," said spokeswoman Dory Devlin. She said Rutgers will then decide if "corrective" or disciplinary actions are warranted.

Livingston said he was contacted by Facebook and told that his post violated their policy on hate speech.

This is hardly the first time a Rutgers professor has expressed views that demean an entire group of people solely on their race or religion.

Michael Chikindas was a microbiology professor at Rutgers and his now-deleted Facebook page contained dozens of anti-Semitic cartoons and one that described Judaism as "the most racist religion in the world." He also questioned the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust and made homophobic comments, saying Israel has "one of the highest percentages of gays in the world."

Read that Patch story: Rutgers Professor Under Review For Anti-Jewish Facebook Posts

After his posts were publicly revealed, he stayed on as a Rutgers professor, but lost his job as the director of the school's Center for Digestive Health. He is also no longer allowed to teach required classes. He claimed his page was hacked.

Top photo: Katherine Welles/Shutterstock