Carnegie Mellon University said Monday it is taking “swift action” after determining that professor Uju Anya’s recent social media posts violated university community standards, with some of her colleagues reporting that they now fear for their personal safety.
President Farnam Jahanian and Provost James H. Garrett Jr. said in a statement shared with Fox News Digital that Anya used “expletives, racial slurs and derogatory language that demeaned, dehumanized and intimidated,” while using her Carnegie Mellon affiliation and implying support from university colleagues.
“Carnegie Mellon University is a place where rigorous inquiry, freedom of expression and mutual respect must coexist,” their statement read. “We take that responsibility seriously, and we strongly reject language that is hateful and disparages or calls for the harm of others. Such rhetoric is inconsistent with the dignity, respect and responsibility that we expect from one another.”
“Dr. Anya’s choice of language violates our shared community standards and distracts from the seriousness and significance of CMU’s scholarship in the humanities and social sciences,” the statement added.
The university also noted that, “Dr. Anya is on voluntary professional leave through summer 2027 and is not teaching classes for CMU this academic year.”
Anya, an associate professor at Carnegie Mellon, wrote on X, as the anniversary of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk’s assassination was nearing, “They began already, and it ain’t even Kirkmas kirk mubarak, y’all!”
Her X account now appears to be deleted.
Another post from Anya appeared to read, “Die first, White man, and then ask yourself why I am dancing.”
Anya is described on her bio page for Carnegie Mellon University as “a scholar of language learning and Black experiences in multilingualism,” whose “primary fields of inquiry include critical applied linguistics, critical sociolinguistics and critical discourse studies, with a focus on how race, gender, sexual and social class identities intersect with language learning.”
30% OF COLLEGE STUDENTS SAY VIOLENCE ACCEPTABLE WAY TO STOP SPEAKERS ON CAMPUSES, SURVEY FINDS
Carnegie Mellon said university leaders met with faculty and administrators over the weekend, during which employees raised concerns about their safety after being doxxed and receiving threatening messages. Campus police are monitoring the situation but have not found any credible threats to the university, according to CMU.
The university president and chief academic officer promised “swift action in accordance with our processes. We continue to prioritize support for impacted community members, including our students.”
INSIDE CHARLIE KIRK’S EFFORT TO DEVELOP THE NEXT GENERATION OF CONSERVATIVE VOICES
The Carnegie Mellon College Republicans are demanding that Anya be fired, writing in part in a Sunday letter, “Anya’s recent comments are not the first time she has been delighted in the death of others. In 2022, during the final hours of Queen Elizabeth II’s life, Anya posted on X, ‘May her pain be excruciating.’ The backlash to this post was so severe that Carnegie Mellon publicly distanced itself from her comments.”
“Friday’s posts demonstrate a clear pattern of behavior, one that does not match the conduct expected of a professor at an institution of higher education,” the group added.
Fox News Digital reached out to Anya for comment but did not immediately receive a response.