Rutgers Professor Under Review For Anti-Jewish Facebook Posts

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — A longtime Rutgers professor is currently under review by the university for multiple Facebook posts he made criticizing Jews and the Jewish religion.

Michael Chikindas is a microbiology professor at Rutgers’ department of food science and is also the director of the Rutgers Center for Digestive Health. His Facebook page appears to have been deleted, but the university confirmed Wednesday they are investigating his posts, many of which featured 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."

"Professor Michael Chikindas’ comments and posts on social media are antithetical to our university’s principles and values of respect for people of all backgrounds, including our large and vibrant Jewish community," said Rutgers spokesman Neal Buccino. "Such comments do not represent the position of the University."

As a publicly paid state university professor, is Professor Chikindas entitled to free speech? As of this time, that remains unclear.

"Rutgers’ position on free speech is clear: All of the members of our community, including faculty and staff, are free to express their viewpoints in public forums as private citizens," said Buccino. "Yet at Rutgers University we must also foster an environment free from discrimination, as articulated in our policy prohibiting discrimination. The university is reviewing this matter to determine if actions taken in the context of his role as a faculty member at Rutgers may have violated that policy."

First reported by Israellycool.com — which has many screenshots of his now-deleted posts — Chikindas allegedly wrote on Facebook: “Israel is the terrorist country aimed at genocidal extermination of the land’s native population, Palestinians,” and added: “We must not forget that the Armenian Genocide was orchestrated by the Turkish Jews who pretended to be the Turks." He also shared an interview with Christopher Bollyn, who claims American Jews and Israel orchestrated the 9/11 attacks, and then allegedly wrote: “These jewish motherf*****s do not control me. They can go and f**k each other in their fat a***s — you see, I really do not have anything to loose (sic), hence nothing to be controlled.”

In an interview with The Algemeiner this week, Chikindas said he is not anti-Semitic and that he was once married to a Jewish woman and had a child with her. He also said he has 25 percent Ashkenazi Jewish lineage himself. Photo of Chikindas via Rutgers website; http://foodsci.rutgers.edu/chi...