Professor reports student tweet, claims defamation
Ja’Loni Owens, a junior public policy major, was issued a conduct charge for violating “Infringement of Rights” under the student code of conduct outlined in the Guide to Pride after a complaint was reported to the university by a political science professor, Dr. Richard Himelfarb, for a tweet Owens published on Sunday, April 22.
The tweet, which has since been taken down by Owens at the request of the university, read as follows:
“Hi ya’ll. Just a reminder that Dr. Richard Himelfarb has been heard saying the n-word, stating that the children of immigrants do not deserve rights in the US (re: DACA) and a host of other distasteful and blatantly offensive remarks. Faculty are aware, which means so are administrators!”
Himelfarb was made aware of the comments and filed a complaint on the basis that the tweet was defamatory as he says he never said the n-word.
In a Facebook post, Owens also referred to Himelfarb as “an angry, racist, sexist xenophobic professor.”
Himelfarb said of the complaint he filed, “Calling me a name is questionable – but ultimately it is a matter of opinion at some level. But what she did that I object to is that she said I used a certain word in conversation … the crux of my complaint is the charge that I use this word that I’ve never used.”
Himelfarb said he believes the formal complaint was necessary. “I don’t have a problem with having a conversation with people – I have conversations with people that I disagree with all the time … I mean that’s sort of the essence of being part of a university is having disagreements and having civil disagreements, but accusing somebody of using that word which is noxious … and there’s no reason for doing that other than to really impugn somebody’s reputation and integrity and its despicable.”
Owens says their post was prompted by an event held by Pi Lambda Phi called, “Is The American Dream Dead?” Himelfarb debated Dr. Tomeka Robinson at the event. Owens said, “I remember feeling anxious and scared that Dr. Himelfarb would be given a platform to debate on the life and death of the ‘American Dream.’ I have been warned about this professor since my first semester at Hofstra University.”
In defense of their comment, Owens said in a statement provided to Public Safety, “A faculty member disclosed to me that students reported to them that Dr. Richard Himelfarb gratuitously used the n-word and other racial epithets in the classroom for ‘scholarly purposes.’ In my experience at Hofstra, I’ve heard other professors do so in my classes and had other students report similar things in their classes. This did not surprise me in the slightest.”
In their statement, Owens referenced other students who heard Hemilfarb say offensive comments.
Sarah Puckett, a junior television production and global studies double major, said that during a freedom of speech panel, Himelfarb “had an ironic ability to interrupt people.” Puckett said after counting the number of times Himelfarb interrupted the male and female panelists, she counted eight to 27, respectively. “I spoke to him on the matter after the panel, discussing my concern that freedom of speech is limited in academic spaces by inherent patriarchal tendencies. He told me he felt my chromosome made me biased. I do not trust him.”
Himelfarb said his issue with the post is in the nature of the allegations made against him by Owens. “You can disagree without impugning somebody’s motives or their integrity without hurling charges at them like this … I think ultimately what this student wanted to do is that she wanted to shut down people that disagree with her.”
Himelfarb said that the nature of the post affects his free speech. “One of the issues that arises here is … people that disagree with each other are going to be called racist or sexist or homophobic or misogynist or hegemonic or imperialistic to the extent that people are labeled this way – it has a chilling effect on free speech, it makes it more difficult to talk about serious issues.”
Owens disagreed. “If he is saying that he is free to make these anti-immigrant, anti-black comments, then I am free to say that they are anti-immigrant and anti-black comments. You don’t get to pick and choose the applicability of freedom of speech,” Owens said.
Examples listed under the “Infringement of Rights” policy in the Guide to Pride include but are not limited to “a. infringing with the freedom of movement, freedom of speech, the right to personal privacy, or the ability to otherwise function within the University community; or b. causing unreasonable noise that disturbs or interferes with other community member(s) or violates the quiet/courtesy hours policy as outlined in The Living Factor; or c. using obscene and/or profane language or gestures or speaking in a way that is inconsistent with the Hofstra Code of Community Standards”
Of their specific charge, Owens said, “Especially since Hofstra is saying that the rule that I’m violating is infringement of rights and so I assume that it’s the infringement of speech because I didn’t disrupt or threaten him. … If it’s freedom of speech, you’re saying that I can’t post that racist comments were made by a professor at a university on social media.”
Of the incident, Dr. Carolyn Dudek, chair of the Department of Political Science, said, “In the 18 years that I have worked with Professor Himelfarb, I have not heard him use derogatory terms against any groups of people, nor racist or sexist language. As chair of the Political Science Department I am not aware of any formal charges ever brought against Professor Himelfarb for using such inappropriate speech as he has been accused.”
Regarding incidents of this nature, Dudek said, “There is a procedure at Hofstra University in cases where anyone using hate speech are investigated and adjudicated. These procedures must be followed, both to stop hate speech as well as to protect the innocent against defamation of character. While freedom of speech and academic dialogue are essential to the university’s mission, and hate speech has no place in academia, social media and the court of public opinion is not the appropriate arena to bring such serious and unproven allegations.”
While Owens did agree to remove the post, they disagreed with how the university handled their comments. Owens said, “I think that Hofstra should have read this as that a student is so deeply offended and anxious about a professor on campus that they’re warning students about an event.”
