A white, male professor at the University of New Hampshire has resigned after being accused of pretending to be a female immigrant of color and operating an anonymous Twitter account that was used to make racist and sexist comments, the university announced.
The university has not named the professor, but confirmed that a faculty member resigned Friday after a four-month investigation.
University of New Hampshire professor quits after posing as female immigrant on Twitter https://t.co/WQwFbW2O3B
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“While we are limited in what we can say in order to protect the privacy of all involved, we can share that the faculty member chose to resign when the university concluded that the conduct exhibited was not consistent with the university’s values and our expectation that every faculty member contribute to a professional academic environment free of intimidation and harassment,” the university’s president James Dean Jr. said in a statement.
The professor, who reportedly works in the chemistry department, is alleged to have posed as an immigrant woman of color and posted racist and sexist content, including nude photos of a former politician leaked without permission, according to NHPR. The account had more than 13,000 followers. (RELATED: Professor Who Pretended To Be Black Resigns From George Washington University)
The person who operated the account posted about fighting efforts from an unnamed police department to speak out on racial injustice after the death of George Floyd in May, according to the Associated Press. The individual also criticized users who advocated for more diversity in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology fields.
Both the anonymous account and the professor’s official Twitter account were reportedly deleted on the same day, after another Twitter user linked the individual operating the two accounts together, according to NHPR.
Glen Miller, the university’s College of Engineering and Physical Sciences chair, reportedly wrote in an email to colleagues in October that “everyone is entitled to their opinion, of course, but when those opinions are dismissive or hurtful or harmful to others, it is not okay with me.”
Miller did not respond to a request for comment.