After a black college professor advocated for the deaths of white people, the university announced that he wouldn’t be disciplined for his calls to racial violence. However, once alumni, donors, and potential students heard about their decision, they took matters into their own hands.
For years, black activist and University of Georgia teaching assistant Irami Osei-Frimpong has fueled the fires of racial division and hatred on social media platforms. Of course, the bitter progressive wasn’t particularly known until a series of tweets in which he advocated for black people to use violence against fellow citizens, commenting that “some white people may have to die for black communities to be made whole” and lamenting that black people “have never been trained to kill whites.”
Osei-Frimpong, who makes a living off of hate-filled and racially disparaging sermons, was later investigated by the UGA after students and patrons complained about his incendiary and violent comments. However, the university soon decided that he had not violated the school’s code of conduct by teaching that the only way for black Americans to advance is by “fighting white people.”
Unsurprisingly, Osei-Frimpong went on to not only criticize the university, despite their approval of his posts, but he also continued making incendiary remarks, including equating white people to Nazis and black people to Holocaust-era Jews. He even doubled down on his comments that had landed him under investigation in the first place.
Thanks to UGA’s fear of disciplining Osei-Frimpong, which would undoubtedly prompt cries of racial discrimination by him and his followers, he remains a formidable force on campus. Although he’s still allowed to fan the flames of violence and racial division at the UGA, the public has stepped up to the plate.
According to Campus Reform, the University of Georgia has received a major backlash from potential students and donors, losing out on funding that critics have attributed solely to their support of Osei-Frimpong. Although there’s no telling just how far the effects of their refusal to discipline the activist go, some have voiced their refusal to donate to the school any longer.
“UGA won’t get a donation from me! NO! I will send my money directly to my niece on campus,” Dr. Catherine Sullivan, a graduate of UGA, told Campus Reform. “UGA has some major explanations to give and I don’t want to hear them! This is totally unacceptable!”
Another patron, who wishes to remain anonymous, explained that he hasn’t donated to the school since hearing of Osei-Frimpong’s controversial comments. He said that the TA should be removed from the UGA staff for spreading a dangerous and racist message.
“I AM NOT giving a penny until this issue gets resolved,” one UGA alumnus told Campus Reform. “What he’s done has crossed the line. He needs dismissing from all teaching assignments on the university. We can discuss racism without bringing HATE into the debate.”
Nicole Haun confirmed that she is deliberating sending her daughter to a different college because she is “very disappointed” with how the university handled Osei-Frimpong’s behavior. Since her daughter has other prospects, she explained that they are considering other schools first.
“If that is the sort of rhetoric they allow on their campus and in their classrooms, it would most certainly affect my decision regarding whether I would let my daughter attend UGA,” Haun said. “[Osei-Frimpong] is not only a TA, but a Ph.D. student at UGA, he had to sign the same Code of Conduct agreement every other student had to sign. It does not seem as though he is being held to the same standards as other students are being held.”
The donors expressed their concern that the University of Georgia has “double standards” when it comes to handling disciplinary issues. They maintain that conservatives are not treated equally, which has become a major problem on college campuses across the nation.
The university has repeatedly defended Osei-Frimpong’s statements, claiming that they are merely his “personal opinions” made in his “personal capacity.” The school insists that the thinly veiled threats are within his First Amendment rights.
While the freedom of speech is a right that covers even the most vulgar and hateful language, it does not protect threats or calls to violence, which many have argued is Osei-Frimpong’s platform.
