A psychology professor who tweeted that fat people should not bother applying for Ph.D programs was not conducting a social experiment as he claimed, university review boards ruled.
Geoffrey Miller, a psychology professor associated with the University of New Mexico and New York University, tweeted last month: “Dear obese PhD applicants: if you didn’t have the willpower to stop eating carbs, you won’t have the willpower to do a dissertation #truth.” (Related: Fat scholars unwanted at NYU, says prof)
The tweet immediately prompted criticisms, causing Miller to apologize for his “idiotic, impulsive, and badly judged” comment. But after a dean at UNM signaled that Miller’s conduct warranted further investigation, he claimed the tweet was part of a social experiment to gauge people’s reactions to deliberately offensive and incendiary internet speech.
There is no evidence that the tweet was part of an experiment, however, according to review boards at both UNM and NYU.
“The committee determined that there were no clear research questions or hypotheses, systematic methods for collecting quantitative and/or qualitative data were absent, and that criteria for selecting respondents were unclear, at best,” said the review, according to Inside Higher Ed.
That’s bad news for Miller, whose comment would have fallen under the umbrella of academic freedom had it been part of an official research project. Now, he could face employment ramifications. Both universities will now decide whether disciplinary action is warranted.
Obese people are a protected category under the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Miller could be in even more trouble if it is determined that he let applicants’ weight affect his judgment of them when he sat on a Ph.D review board for one year.
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