Rutgers to punish professor who blamed Jews for Armenian Genocide

Rutgers to punish professor who blamed Jews for Armenian Genocide

PanARMENIAN.Net - A Rutgers University professor accused of posting anti-Semitic rants on his Facebook page, including accusing Jews of masterminding the Armenian Genocide, will lose his role as a director and no longer will be allowed to teach required classes, the school announced, Fox News reports.

Michael Chikindas, a professor in the food science department, reportedly posted dozens of anti-Jewish and anti-Israel comments on his page over several months, as Fox News has reported.

One of his posts said the Armenian Genocide was orchestrated by Jews, for example. Although the professor claimed his Facebook page was hacked, he did not deny sharing some of the images, comments and cartoons considered to be anti-Semitic.

Rutgers President Robert Barchi, who previously said the professor’s posts were protected by “academic freedom,” said in a statement to the university community that Chikindas no longer will teach required courses and will be removed from his post as director of the Center for Digestive Health at the Institute for Food, Nutrition and Health.

Chikindas, a professor at Rutgers since 1998 who earned tenure in 2007, will undergo cultural sensitivity training and will be “subject to ongoing monitoring if and when he returns to the classroom,” Barchi said.

“This has been a sad and deeply troubling situation for our students and our staff, and for our faculty, who stand for much nobler values than those expressed by this particular professor,” Barchi told the university in his statement.

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