A professor at Texas Tech University who publicly posted antisemitic remarks has been suspended.
Jairo Funez-Flores is an assistant professor at Texas Tech’s College of Education. He specializes in decolonial studies, ethnography, and activist research. Texas Tech recognized him in the 2022-2023 academic year with the “Hemphill-Wells New Professor Excellence in Teaching Award.”
As first reported by Texas Scorecard, Funez-Flores had a history of antisemitic social media posts in which he publicly cursed Israel and the United States, along with heavy use of profanity.
On October 7, 2023, the day of the terrorist attacks against Israel, he posted the following quote on X from Palestinian poet Darren Tatour: “Resist, my people, resist them. In Jerusalem, I dressed my wounds and breathed my sorrows and carried the soul in my palm for an Arab Palestine. I will not succumb to the ‘peaceful solution,’ never lower my flags until I evict them from my land.”
That same day, he also shared a post justifying the October 7 attacks as “self-determination,” “resisting dehumanization,” and “justice.”
Now the University has suspended the professor due to the posts, which leadership has characterized as “hateful, antisemitic, and unacceptable.”
On Monday, the university shared a statement on behalf of Texas Tech University President Lawrence Schovanec and Chancellor Tedd Mitchell:
Assistant Professor Jairo Fúnez-Flores posted a series of social media comments that we find to be hateful, antisemitic, and unacceptable. These social media comments are antithetical to our values including those found in System Regulation 01.05.
We take the First Amendment’s application to public universities seriously; however, we are also committed to providing a safe learning and working environment that is free from harassment, including antisemitic harassment, and will not tolerate behavior that crosses the line into harassment and interferes with or limits the ability of an individual to participate in the educational activities of Texas Tech University (TTU).
Additionally, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has recently warned universities that they have the duty under Title VI to take prompt action if they know, or even should have known, that discriminatory harassment has occurred. The OCR stated that “…a school violates Title VI when it fails to take adequate steps to address discriminatory harassment, such as antisemitic harassment.”
Consequently, on March 4, 2024, TTU suspended Professor Fúnez-Flores with pay pending an investigation that will be conducted by the Office of Equal Opportunity (OEO) at the Texas Tech University System. OEO will investigate whether any of the antisemitic sentiments expressed by Professor Fúnez-Flores’ social media comments have found their way into the classroom or the work environment and are deemed to be discriminatory harassment. If it is determined by OEO that discriminatory harassment has occurred, TTU will take prompt and effective action. There will be no further comment from System or University personnel until the investigation has been completed.
TTU is committed to the success and safety of its students, staff, and faculty. If a member of the TTU community is aware of any discriminatory harassment, including antisemitic harassment, it can be reported directly to OEO via the process outlined in OP 40.02 and the matter will be investigated.
