On the reinstatement of UCF Professor Charles Negy, a proud racist
May 21, 2022
If you haven't heard of the Professor Negy case: He is a proud racist who was a tenured associate professor of psychology at University of Central Florida until January 2021, when he was fired. In the past week, he was reinstated with tenure, benefits, and back pay by an arbitrator who claims he was terminated without just cause. The university has stated they will not challenge the ruling and that Dr. Negy will be teaching again at UCF in the fall 2022 semester. (I will use "Dr." in the letter as pertaining to him holding a doctoral degree and "Professor" when pertaining to his job.)
Dr. Negy is the author of White Shaming: Bullying Based on Prejudice, Virtue-Signaling, and Ignorance (2020). He claims to be a victim of cancel culture for espousing contrarian views. He launched a Twitter account in March 2019 (@CharlesNegy) and has tweeted over 14,000 times in support of colonialism, in opposition to diversity training and affirmative action, in support of "western" and "American" values, against LGBTQ+ recognition, against critical race theory, and so on. However, the university claimed that the main reason for firing him was failure to report sexual harassment by one of his teacher's aides in 2014 that was uncovered in 2020. Numerous other complaints were received during this time about him pushing racist views in his classes.
Dr. Negy loves nothing more than luring you into a culture war debate about alleged indoctrination, academic freedom, free speech, and so forth. This can be seen clearly in his Twitter feed, which I have included in the notes below and I encourage you to take a look at. I do not think this is a productive debate, and instead would encourage you to consider several points:
1. Espousing racist views is particularly dangerous in a position of trust and authority. If your fellow students do it, that's different than your professor, who is also in charge of grading your work, which presents a potential conflict of interest if you dare oppose him or her.
2. Dr. Negy says this is about toxic "wokeness," hypocrisy, cancel culture, et cetera, painting himself as the victim as he rants against purported black privilege. But, this guy is a white baby boomer (born in 1960) who enjoys tenure and labor union membership, which is hard to get nowadays. Where is his concern for all the teachers, adjunct instructors, and non-tenure track faculty in Florida and elsewhere who have the sword of Damocles hanging over them if they dare teach true history, or are merely accused of it?
3. A continuation of the previous point: Consider that particularly with recent laws in Florida, academic freedom is under assault for the vast majority of educators who can be fired at-will if they dare speak the wrong way (or get misinterpreted) on a litany of issues including abortion, LGBTQ+ rights, redlining, Black Codes, and more, despite the fact that contentious subjects and classroom debates are supported in the Florida state standards for courses such as 11th grade U.S. History and 12th grade U.S. Government, as well as in higher education.
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In the end, the arbitrator reinstated Dr. Negy saying that he was not afforded protections under academic tenure that he should have been. The university did not give notice nor a 6-month probationary period, and the arbitrator alleges they relied on hearsay and an improper, truncated process that does not align with the collective bargaining agreement in order to terminate him.
Personally, I think that collective bargaining agreements are great. I would love to see minorities get to enjoy them, as well as getting holidays like Juneteenth off. It is profoundly ironic that they do not. Blogger Morgan Casey writes, "Juneteenth is now another opportunity for rich, white people to get a paid day off while most BIPOC work." (BIPOC stands for black, indigenous, and people of color.) Any discussion of purported black privilege from things like affirmative action is incomplete if it omits this and many other items.
We can all agree that tenure and academic freedom are important. Nevertheless, we must bear in mind that in Florida, they are mainly under attack from Republicans. Right-wingers are trying and succeeding at destroying tenure here, in Georgia, and elsewhere. Governor Ron DeSantis has taken unprecedented actions to muzzle professors at the University of Florida (the state's flagship university in Gainesville), to punish school districts, and to appoint cronies, most notably to the Board of Governors of the State University System. Now, a new law enacted in April 2022 allows the Board of Governors to directly review professors' tenure each 5 years and remove them. Being that the Board consists of overwhelmingly of gubernatorial appointees (14 of 17 seats!), this is a naked, disgusting power grab. (Note: The Florida Senate confirms the appointees, but this is pretty meaningless as they do whatever DeSantis tells them to do.)
Earlier this afternoon on Twitter, Dr. Negy declared victory, writing that his reinstatement is a "sweet taste of justice against authoritarian bullies." When asked by a commentator, "are you taking the job back?," he replied: "Yes. And...it's not over yet."
I attended University of Central Florida for over 7 years, completing my B.S. in Psychology in 2014, M.A. in Applied Learning & Instruction in 2016, and Ph.D. in Education with a specialization in Instructional Design & Technology in 2019. I have taught over 300 students at UCF in EME 2040: Introduction to Technology for Educators, most recently in the spring 2020 semester as an adjunct faculty member. I authored and edited numerous academic journal articles and books in my time at UCF. As a 3-time UCF alumnus, former employee, and supporter, it pains me to see that I am in the company of Professor Negy.
Please do better, UCF. You have the Employee Code of Conduct and the Golden Rule, and you prominently state that "UCF values diversity, equity, and the inclusion of all in our community." It is not too much to ask that your tenured professors are inclusive toward their students in their classes, nor is it an assault on their academic freedom. In fact, it is an assault to their colleagues and the student body to turn a blind eye to it.
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Notes:
Dr. Negy's Twitter account screams out for attention with racist hot takes (i.e., provocative commentary): https://twitter.com/CharlesNegy
Several articles about his recent reinstatement:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/19/us/twitter-florida-professor-reinstated.html
Older article about his termination in January 2021: https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/education/os-ne-ucf-negy-investigation-20210113-2qx75gqgcbhj3bw6sk6imjchre-story.html
Rate My Professors reviews are like a soap opera. I'm not going to pretend these should be treated like gospel, but they are interesting: https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=64909
Tenure is being phased out in Georgia: https://www.aaup.org/news/university-system-georgia-eviscerates-tenure
Governor DeSantis has politicized the University of Florida and everyone in secondary and higher education is scared of being the next target: https://www.tampabay.com/opinion/2021/11/04/why-has-the-university-of-florida-become-gov-desantis-press-office-editorial/
In April 2022, Governor DeSantis enacted a law that allows review of tenure each 5 years by a board appointed by him, to decide whether to fire tenured professors: https://www.diverseeducation.com/news-roundup/article/15291023/florida-gov-desantis-signs-higher-ed-law-targeting-tenure
Blogger Morgan Casey notes the hypocrisy in the new Juneteenth federal holiday predominantly benefiting white, well-to-do workers: https://retriever.umbc.edu/2021/06/profiting-off-of-black-people-one-national-holiday-at-a-time/
UCF's Golden Rule: https://goldenrule.sdes.ucf.edu
Bravo to Mr Negy! Justice was served! He needs to sue UCF and those administrators need to be fired!