OMAHA, NE — A tweet by a Creighton professor regarding a planned rally to support police in Omaha created a firestorm of controversy Friday evening.
The tweet by History of Christianity Associate Professor Zachary B. Smith implied that the planned Saturday morning rally called Back the Blue was a display of white supremacists showing off racism in the Midwest. (see tweet below).
The tweet caused an outcry by people on Twitter as well as a letter from the Creighton chapter of College Republicans calling on the professor to apologize or resign.
Prof. Smith's Twitter account appears to have been shut down Friday evening, but Creighton University issued the following statement:
Views expressed by a Creighton University faculty member on his personal social media account concerning the Back the Blue event are not those of the University. Additionally, the faculty member regrets his statement and sincerely apologizes for the offense it has caused.
Creighton believes statements of this nature impede our goal of promoting unity within our community, including our effort to confront and eliminate systemic racism. Creighton is an institution guided by Jesuit, Catholic values and traditions, including inquiry and discourse that reflect ethical and critical thinking, and respect and care, for all persons.
