Dear Chancellor, members of the UNCW and UNC community, and members of the media:

 

As someone who has followed the activities of Prof. Mike S. Adams for several years, I can say that I am not surprised by the latest controversy involving his public attack on the religion and sexual identity of a UNCW undergraduate student that has gotten national attention this week. For many years, in his Townhall columns and elsewhere he has insulted, threatened, and expressed vile bigotry toward people of the Islamic faith (among many other groups, as we all know.) This is no isolated incident. I am glad to see that the Buzzfeed reporter cited tweets going back to 2010 that reveal his pattern of hatred. I assure you that if you dig deeper you will find many more. 

For example, in this July 7, 2008 article he refers to the foul smell of “swarthy young Muslims”: 

 

On the one hand, this falls under the protections of free speech. On the other hand, his public attacks are perceived as bearing the imprimatur of UNCW and have long had a negative impact on our university and campus community. By doing nothing, his employer is tacitly supporting racism and bigotry.  His employer is also supporting actions that impede and do harm to the university’s operations by contributing to a hostile environment for current AND PROSPECTIVE students and faculty. 

 

This present incident is not the first time Adams has singled out an individual student who then became a target from his social media followers. These are always students of color, members of the Islamic faith, or the LGBTQ community and their advocates. More frequently, Adams routinely presents distorted information about other UNCW faculty who will tell you they invariably receive on-line death threats along with other heaps of unwarranted abuse. These come as a result of the inflammatory urgings of a fellow colleague at the university. Search committees will tell you of faculty job candidates expressing concern during campus interviews because Adams’ name and his hate-filled attacks come up at the top of a Google search for UNCW. Many departments will tell you that job offers to brilliant teachers and researchers have been declined because of an atmosphere of contempt and bigotry to which Adams is the prime contributor. No doubt parents think twice about sending their children to UNCW as well.

 

The university administration’s anemic response last week is not only disappointing and shameful, it is bad for UNCW.  Like Adams’ public attacks, it undermines the credibility and functioning of the university.

 

A concerned member of the UNCW community