Another day, another member of our esteemed intellectual elite goes on an unhinged rant about Israel and Jews.
This time it was Jemma Decristo, a transgender African American Studies professor at the University of California at Davis, who decided to take to social media and advocate for violently attacking neighbors.
Decristo’s post on Oct. 10 was even more deranged than the Cornell professor who earlier this week said that he felt “exhilarated” by Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel.
Here’s what Decristo wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: “one group of ppl we have easy access to in the US is all these zionist journalists who spread propaganda & misinformation they have houses w addresses, kids in school they can fear their bosses, but they should fear us more.”
That was followed by a knife, an ax, and several blood emojis.
Decristo had a few other unhinged follow-up posts as well.
Decristo’s X account has since been privatized.
There’s a lot to break down here.
First, how is it that a professor at a prestigious university writes with such atrocious spelling and grammar? The post reads like the poorly written ravings of a random lunatic on a fetid Reddit forum. Standards in higher education have apparently fallen so far that professors, let alone students, struggle to write at a high school level.
Second, there’s the question of what UC Davis is going to do about one of its faculty members calling for violence and targeting not just people who disagree, but their children, too.
One would think the school should take action to ensure members of the community are safe.
The school is so worried about making UC Davis an “inclusive” and welcoming environment that it has an entire guide for teachers and students to avoid microaggressions. Surely, calling for a knife or ax to be plunged into a member of the community is just a bit out of bounds, right?
UC Davis Chancellor Gary May put out a statement condemning violence.
“I absolutely condemn the posts attributed to a UC Davis faculty member that recently appeared on the social media platform X. I find the comments revolting in every way, and I disagree wholeheartedly with them,” May wrote., adding:
UC Davis rejects all forms of violence and discrimination, as they are antithetical to the values of our university. We strive to foster a climate of equity and justice built on mutual understanding and respect for all members of the community.
I’d add here that UC Davis isn’t really against all forms of discrimination as May suggests. The school has committed itself to widespread “anti-racism” actions based on the ideology of left-wing author-activist Ibram X. Kendi, among others.
“The only remedy to racist discrimination is anti-racist discrimination. The only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination,” Kendi wrote in his book “How to Be an Antiracist.”
A quibble, perhaps, but it needed to be said.
As to what would be done about the offending professor, May refused to commit to anything and called it essentially a private matter at the public school.
“The University of California system has specific procedures for the review of complaints of faculty misconduct consistent with universitywide policies and bylaws,” he said. “The status of complaints lodged against faculty members are confidential personnel matters, so we are unable to publicly comment on the steps we are taking.”
The Daily Signal reached out to UC Davis for further comment, but it had not responded as of publication time.
This episode at my alma mater is just one of many that has exposed the pervasive rot inside our institutions of higher education. Most Americans were rightly horrified by the Hamas terrorist attacks and support Israel.
That’s apparently not the case in academia, however.
There appears to be more terrorist-supporting fanatics and antisemites at these self-styled proud bastions of tolerance and diversity than at a Ku Klux Klan rally.
Institutions that have been most relentless in condemning America for its alleged past sins have been exposed as dens of genocidal hate.
At George Washington University, for example, the Colonials mascot was removed, supposedly for being “offensive.” The Washington, D.C., school said that it wasn’t a unifying symbol for the institution. Yet, one of its professors, Lara Sheehi, went on several pro-Hamas tirades after the Oct. 7 terrorist attack. On social media, she reportedly praised a statement critical of “anyone condemning the Palestinians’ armed resistance.”
Colonizing is bad and offensive, but “decolonizing” through threats, terrorism, and torture is apparently a reasonable position to hold at our elite schools.
Maybe we should stop giving higher education a blank check to promote such values to the next generation of American elites.
Have an opinion about this article? To sound off, please email letters@DailySignal.com, and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state.