DAVIS, Calif. — A resolution in the California State Assembly would urge University of California leadership to remove a professor who made controversial remarks on social media about killing cops.
Assemblyman James Gallagher (R-Yuba City) introduced the resolution, H.R 22 on March 12. It urges the University of California to remove English Professor Joshua Clover from the classroom and terminate his employment at the University of California, Davis.
Clover is a tenured UC Davis professor who has publicly advocated for the killing of police officers.
Gallagher said that the statements made by Clover are not covered by the First Amendment, since they incite violence.
"Officers are being ambushed and killed including most recently Officer Natalie Corona in the very city where this professor teaches,” Gallagher said.
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The assemblyman also delivered over 10,000 petitions to the UC Davis administration from people across the state requesting that Clover be fired.
Gallagher hopes the resolution can send a united message from the state legislature urging the university to take action.
“I support free speech and the right of professors and students to express different ideas and engage in constructive dialogue in an environment that is free from violence and intimidation, but violent rhetoric that calls for the death of individuals or a group of people should never be tolerated,” Gallagher said.
The resolution that Gallagher introduced calls for UC Davis' Chancellor Gary S. May, University of California President Janet Napolitano, and the Regents of the University of California to remove Clover from the college.
The resolution has only been introduced and has not yet been discussed or voted on.
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