OGDEN, Utah (AP) - A professor reversed his decision to resign from a university in Utah after being criticized for tweets about nationwide protests concerning race and police use of force.
Weber State University confirmed in an email Tuesday that criminal justice professor Scott Senjo rescinded his resignation, The Standard-Examiner reported.
Senjo resigned June 3, but under university policy a tenured faculty member has five business days to rescind the resignation, Weber State spokesperson Allison Barlow Hess said.
Senjo will remain on leave while Weber State conducts a review, the university said in a statement.
The university said it condemns Senjo’s tweets and believes his sentiments were “abhorrent,” but the issue is an ongoing personnel matter and officials cannot comment further.
Senjo’s Twitter account shows he tweeted support for damage done to CNN headquarters in Atlanta and tweeted at a reporter who said he had been hit by police in New York City: “Excellent. If I was the cop, you wouldn’t be able to tweet.”
In response to a tweet showing a New York City police car driving into people, Senjo commented: “That’s not how I would have driven the car into the crowd,” his Twitter account shows.
“Those are my tweets but I don’t stand by them and will have to suffer the consequences of my recklessness,” Senjo said in an email after the messages drew negative attention. “I made those tweets in the sordid atmosphere of Twitter knife fights where sarcastic put downs and tasteless humor are often the norm.”
“I agree that my tweets were far beyond the realm of acceptable university policy as well as acceptable social norms,” he said.
Senjo has taught at the university in Ogden for more than 20 years.
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