Identity of Speakers
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Monica Casper
Faculty/Staff
OtherMonica Casper is the dean of the College of Arts and Letters and a Professor of Sociology at San Diego State University.
Additional Information
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Incident Nature:
Social media
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Incident Political Orientation:
Left wing -
Incident Responses:
Other
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Incident Status:
No litigation
- Did not involve Speech Codes
Summary
Monica Casper, dean of the College of Arts and Letters at San Diego State University (SDSU), came under fire for tweets from her personal Twitter account stating “just so we’re clear on the Right’s agenda: racism good, abortion bad, money good, women bad, capitalism good, sustainability bad, stupidity good, science bad, power good, equality bad, white people good, nonwhite people bad. Stench, indeed” and also writing that Kyle Rittenhouse’s acquittal in the fatal shooting of two people in Wisconsin was an act of white supremacy, drawing the ire of some, such as the SDSU College Republicans and others on the Right. Caspar, and the University itself, also faced threats of violence over her tweets.
Adela de La Torre, the President of SDSU criticized Casper for her tweet while also defending Casper’s right to tweet under the First Amendment, stating that “I do not support actions that seek to divide us or undermine civic discourse for any reason.” Ms. De la Torre’s criticism drew the ire of some faculty members at SDSU, stating that it was wrong for de la Torre to publicly rebuke Casper for the remarks she made on a private Twitter account. Other members of the faculty agreed with de La Torre’s criticism, with one tenured professor stating that “I think [Caspar’s] tweet implies that anyone who leans right is not welcome at SDSU, and so, her speech chills the speech of anyone subject to her authority.”
The University took no action against Caspar.
