'All I Want for Christmas Is White Genocide' Professor Resigns After a Year of Death Threats

The Drexel professor’s resignation is effective Dec. 31.

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Students

A Drexel University professor said Thursday that he will resign due to the number of violent threats stemming from his numerous controversial tweets. George Ciccariello-Maher, an associate professor specializing in politics and global studies, said his “situation has become unsustainable” after dealing with months of targeted harassment.

"This is not a decision I take lightly; however, after nearly a year of harassment by right-wing, white supremacist media outlets and Internet mobs, after death threats and threats of violence directed against me and my family, my situation has become unsustainable," Ciccariello-Maher said in a statement posted on Twitter. "Staying at Drexel in the eye of this storm has become detrimental to my own writing, speaking, and organizing."

Drexel University said Ciccariello-Maher was resigning to "pursue other opportunities." The university “has accepted his resignation and recognizes the significant scholarly contributions that Professor Ciccariello-Maher has made to the field of political thought and his service to the Drexel University community as an outstanding classroom teacher," Drexel said in a statement Thursday. "Drexel University wishes Professor Ciccariello-Maher well in his future pursuits."

In December 2016, the professor tweeted, "All I want for Christmas is white genocide,” which went viral and sparked the controversy. Ciccariello-Maher told CNN that the tweet was meant in jest. It was a "satirical jab at a certain paranoid racist fantasy and that white genocide does not exist." Drexel did not see it that way, stating that the professor’s tweet was “deeply disturbing.”

In October '17, the university placed Ciccariello-Maher on administrative leave after he blamed “Trumpism” for the Las Vegas shooting.

Ciccariello-Maher, however, has doubled down. "In the past year, the forces of resurgent white supremacy have tasted blood and are howling for more,” Ciccariello-Maher continued, in his statement. “Given the pressure they will continue to apply, university communities must form a common front against the most reprehensible forces in society and refuse to bow to their pressure, intimidation, and threats. Only then will universities stand any chance of survival."

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