December 26, 2016
Latin American Studies Program at Cornell University./YouTube
This screen capture shows Drexel University professor George Ciccariello-Maher speaking during a lecture at Cornell University in April 2016. The former Drexel professor now works at New York University.
Drexel University has responded to a tweet by one of the university's professor advocating a "white genocide," calling the posting "utterly reprehensible" and "deeply disturbing."
Associate Professor George Ciccariello-Maher posted the tweet shortly before 11 p.m. on Christmas Eve. It read: "All I Want for Christmas is White Genocide." Above is a screen capture of a tweet sent from the Twitter account of Drexel University professor George Ciccariello-Maher. 
@ciccmaher/Twitter
On Monday morning neither Ciccariello-Maher's tweet nor any other postings to his twitter account were viewable to the public.
Drexel University released a brief statement about the situation Sunday:
Drexel became aware today of Associate Professor George Ciccariello-Maher's inflammatory tweet, which was posted on his personal Twitter account on Dec. 24, 2016. While the University recognizes the right of its faculty to freely express their thoughts and opinions in public debate, Professor Ciccariello-Maher's comments are utterly reprehensible, deeply disturbing, and do not in any way reflect the values of the University.
The University is taking this situation very seriously. We contacted Ciccariello-Maher today to arrange a meeting to discuss this matter in detail.
Ciccariello-Maher told the The Associated Press by email Monday that Drexel's statement "sends a chilling message." The professor said the Christmas Eve tweet was meant to be satirical, mocking what he called the "imaginary concept" of "white genocide," which Ciccariello-Maher said was invented by white supremacists.
On his website Ciccariello-Maher describes himself as a writer and radical political theorist. He is a professor of politics and global studies at Drexel. He previously taught radical theory and politics at University of California-Berkeley, San Quentin State Prison, and the Venezuelan School of Planning in Caracas, according to his website.
In addition to the incendiary nature of Ciccariello-Maher's tweet, the controversy further has been fueled by right-wing websites like Breitbart, Glenn Beck's The Blaze and Tucker Carlson's The Daily Caller, all of which have reported on the story. Readers had posted more than 4,150 comments on the Breitbart article shortly before 1 p.m.
