On Nov. 27, 2014, UC Davis professor Joshua Clover, who teaches English and comparative literature, tweeted:
I am thankful that every living cop will one day be dead, some by their own hand, some by others, too many of old age #letsnotmakemore”
A month later, he tweeted:
“I mean, it’s easier to shoot cops when their backs are turned, no?”
In an interview published on Jan. 31, 2016, Clover opined, “People think that cops need to be reformed. They need to be killed.”
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
If you’re wondering how many strikes it takes to unseat a faculty member who has preached obscenely offensive ideas about law enforcement, the answer is that these and other incendiary statements Clover made are not nearly enough. When the comments were pointed out two days ago to readers of The California Aggie, the school’s student paper, the administration barely flinched. In a statement, administrators wrote:
The UC Davis administration condemns the statement of Professor Clover to which you refer. It does not reflect our institutional values, and we find it unconscionable that anyone would condone much less appear to advocate murder. A young police officer has been killed serving the City of Davis. We mourn her loss and express our gratitude to all who risk their lives protecting us. We support law enforcement, and the UC Davis Police Department and Chief Joe Farrow have been and remain critical partners to our community.
While the university elected not even to sanction Clover, citing his right to free speech, it had no problems canceling a speech by conservative commentator Milo Yiannopoulos in 2017. In fact when it comes to language on campus, the school’s “language guide” claims that only white people can be racist.
