For the immediate and direct attention of President Cartwright, Provost Johnson, Dean Frame, Professor Jentsch, Board of Trustees Chairs and Members:

We, a group of Barnard College and Columbia University students, alumni, and friends, are demanding the immediate termination of the University of Central Florida's faculty member Professor Charles Negy on account of his repeated, highly offensive, anti-black rhetoric.

Charles Negy recently tweeted about the murder of our classmate, Tess Majors, in order to justify his racist views about violence in this country. Tess, a white student, was murdered by black teenagers. While this was a tragedy in our community, people across the country and around the world cared -- despite Negy's myopic assertion that “no one cared. NO ONE cared." No respectable Barnard/Columbia community member would tolerate anyone making generalizations about black people and violence based on this incident; in fact, there were countless calls by students, faculty, and community members that Barnard and Columbia take extreme care in ensuring that, in the pursuit of justice for Tess, no action be taken that would further exacerbate or contribute to anti-black violence and police brutality. Tess cared about ending systemic racism and would not want to be used as a pawn for racists to vilify black people. 

Negy has an extensive history of tweeting anti-black and otherwise racist rhetoric. He has also tweeted about how “black privilege” disadvantages white students, has used pseudoscience to support his racist belief that black people are mentally and psychologically inferior to other races, and has stated that “diversity is divisive.” He has tweeted that black people cause their own oppression. He is a racist, unambiguously. If Tess had been a student at UCF instead of Barnard, would the University have accepted his assertion that “no one cared” about her murder and that black people are dangerous? We hope not.

We strongly urge you to take action by removing Negy, so he can no longer disgrace your institution and cause students emotional distress. If you respect your own institution and its student body, you will not continue to employ someone who perpetuates harmful race science and explicitly views Black students and people as lesser. The First Amendment does not guarantee employment. The First Amendment does not signify that people who have expressed views unbecoming to university values are guaranteed a job. The First Amendment means you are entitled to speak your mind, but it does not entitle you to immunity from the various repercussions of spouting hateful speech.

Charles Negy's hateful speech threatens the mental and emotional safety of students at the University of Central Florida and beyond. If he is allowed to continue having a platform supported by your institution, it illustrates the University’s lack of support towards the student body, faculty members, staff, administration, and community.

If the University fails to take action, it is a direct indication that such values are tolerated by the university, even if they do not represent your own opinion.