Rutgers Takes 2nd Look At Prof Who Wrote 'I Hate White People'

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — Rutgers University President Robert Barchi wants the school to "more rigorously analyze" statements a Rutgers history professor made on his personal Facebook page this summer, where he said he "hate(s) white people" and called white children "little Caucasian a**holes."

The professor, James Livingston, argues his comments were satire, and his $129,000-taxypayer-funded teaching job should be protected under his right to free speech.

Barchi's call for a secondary review is only the latest development in the story. A copy of the letter Barchi sent Aug. 29 to the dean of the Rutgers School of Arts & Sciences, where Livingston is employed, was provided to Patch.

As Patch reported in the ongoing saga, Livingston wrote the now-deleted post in late May. In August, after an investigation, the Rutgers' Office of Employment Equity determined that he violated university policy, which protects against discrimination.

Although he is still on staff as of Aug. 30, their ruling meant Livingston can be suspended from his job.

But Rutgers president Barchi now reportedly wants school administrators to take a look at the school's decision. Barchi is now convening a special advisory group, including Rutgers' attorneys and First Amendment experts, to give their decision a second review.

"Like many in our community, I found that Professor Livingston's comments showed exceptionally poor judgment, were offensive, and, despite the professor's claims of satire, were not at all funny," Barchi wrote. "At the same time, few values are as important to the university as the protection of our First Amendment rights — even when the speech we are protecting is insensitive and reckless."

Livingston, who is white, was found guilty of violating Rutgers' policy prohibiting discrimination. Livingston appealed that decision, but his appeal was denied. The Office of Employment Equity ruled that "his speech was not protected because its significance did not outweigh the potential disruption to the university's mission," NJ.com reported.

Livingston's original Facebook rant:

On May 31, Livingston wrote on his personal Facebook page that a restaurant in his neighborhood had become overrun with white children. The restaurant is Harlem Shake; Livingston lives in Harlem. Livingston has been a professor in the history department at Rutgers-New Brunswick since 2003.

Livingston also said he "resigned" from his race.

"OK, officially, I now hate white people," Livingston wrote on his Facebook page (the post has since been deleted). "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."

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."

Livingston has argued that he was writing satirically and that he is entitled to free speech.

"I allowed FIRE to publicize this finding not simply on my own behalf, but because I believe the intellectual mission of Rutgers, a place to which I've devoted my career, is in peril, and being overridden for the sake of public relations," Livingston said in a statement provided to the Washington Post. "Allowing human resource administrators to tell a professor of 30 years what he can and can't say on Facebook means that the tradition of academic freedom in our public universities is essentially over. I respect that tradition too much not to protest."

"I'm also a fan of the Constitution, which is equally under assault here," Livingston said. "I very much hope the university will see its way to overturning this finding of 'reverse racism' and reaffirming the democratic freedoms that Rutgers has long stood for."

Ongoing Patch reporting on Rutgers professor James Livingston:

Rutgers Professor Who Wrote 'I Hate White People' Still On Staff

Rutgers Investigating Professor's Anti-White Facebook Rant

Photo by Carly Baldwin/New Brunswick Patch