University Must Reinstate Professor Who Tweeted About ‘Black Privilege’

The comments led to student protests, and the Student Senate called for his termination.

University leaders, including the president, Alexander N. Cartwright, said in a statement at the time that they were “disgusted by the racist posts,” and were gathering information about complaints of bias in Dr. Negy’s classes.

“If any student, current or former, believes they may have experienced abusive or discriminatory behavior by any faculty or staff member, we want to know about it,” they wrote.

As outrage spread, Dr. Negy said he deleted the tweets “in a panic,” which he now regrets, because he stands behind them “100 percent.”

In January 2021, the university fired Dr. Negy, although not for his comments on Twitter, which it said were protected by the First Amendment.

In a termination letter, which cited repeated violations of university policies and regulations, the university said Dr. Negy had created “a hostile learning environment” for his students “through discriminatory harassment.”

The letter said he had deterred students from filing complaints about his classroom conduct and had failed to report that a student had told him that she had been sexually assaulted by one of his teaching assistants in February 2014.

Dr. Negy, 61, denied the accusations and challenged his firing through a union grievance process.

In the ruling on Monday, the arbitrator, Ben Falcigno, found that the university had failed to show “just cause” when it fired Dr. Negy because it had not given him a chance to change his conduct in the classroom or, alternatively, to show that he was incapable of changing his behavior.