An adjunct professor at the University of Texas-Austin went on a Twitter tirade this weekend, slamming the Catholic Church and tweeting his disgust with Israel.
After being questioned by a Twitter user if he was using sarcasm when encouraging Iran to bomb Israel, Spencer Wells replied: “Nope – I despise the Israelis. If you want to see the post-apocalyptic vision of what Apartheid in South Africa would have looked like in 2020, visit Israel. The Palestinians have suffered for far too long – bomb it until the sand turns to glass…”
Wells also tweeted “F*** the Catholic Church,” and an article detailing “10 secrets the Catholic Church Hopes You’ve Forgotten,” with the hashtag #CatholicisimMustDie.
In addition to his professorship at UT-Austin, Wells is also employed by National Geographic, where he founded the “Genographic Project,” according to his Twitter bio.
As of Monday morning, Wells had UT-Austin professor both in his Twitter bio and on his LinkedIn page. He later removed the professorship from his Twitter account.
Of course, this professor has the first Amendment right to tweet as he pleases. However, his powerful role as an educator must not go unnoticed. How would a Catholic or Jewish student feel in his class, knowing his prejudice may affect their grade or time in the class? At a time in our nation where colleges are preaching that hate has no home on their campus, it’s ironic that a professor wouldn’t think twice before tweeting such hate-filled comments.
UPDATE: In a tweet, UT-Austin stated that Wells is no longer employed by the university. “Spencer Wells is no longer a faculty or advisory council member at UT,” they wrote. “He previously had a courtesy, unpaid appointment as a part-time adjunct that did not involve teaching. That ended in May and was not renewed. We do not have any association with the views held by Mr. Wells.”
