Posts
According to Campus Reform, a social media account identified as belonging to Zabad published a late Saturday evening tirade celebrating the death of Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., before deleting it less than 12 hours later.
Graham, who died Saturday at the age of 71, was described by the professor as "a certified anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab, anti-Muslim bloodthirsty bigot. He personified belligerence and evil. He supported every savage war Israel launched against the Palestinians and the Lebanese and the Syrians and the Iranians and the Iraqis and the Yemenis."
The post continued with an even more extraordinary denunciation.
"He genuinely endorsed Israel's genocidal war and unabashedly supported the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians from their native lands. He wholeheartedly and passionately supported the project of Greater Israel along with all the massacres, occupation, dispossession and savagery and barbarism that this entails. He was a merciless warmonger and bigot. Rest in Hell."
One is entitled to disagree with a senator's foreign policy. One is even entitled to despise it. What ought to concern any civilized society is how readily some academics abandon the elementary standards of decency that they so frequently insist everyone else observe. It is difficult to lecture students about empathy while publicly rejoicing at another person's death.
By 5:09 a.m. the following morning, according to Campus Reform, the post had disappeared. In its place was an apology.
"I want to sincerely apologize for the post regarding the passing of Senator Lindsey Graham. My words were inappropriate and disrespectful and failed to show compassion during time of loss and grief. I regretted the post and the words I used."
Whether this represented genuine reflection or simply an appreciation for the consequences of public exposure is something only the professor himself can answer.
St. Bonaventure University, to its credit, did not attempt to defend the remarks under the fashionable banner of free expression or academic freedom. Instead, the university made clear that the professor's comments violated the institution's principles.
"We are aware of the post and subsequent apology by Dr. Zabad. His post about Sen. Graham was clearly not aligned with our university mission and values and we will be addressing the situation with him to ensure that Franciscan values are maintained and lived out at St. Bonaventure."
The incident serves as another reminder that America's universities face a crisis extending well beyond politics. Increasingly, institutions entrusted with cultivating wisdom produce people who confuse ideological fervor with intellectual rigor, and personal hatred with moral courage.
Meanwhile, Washington continued mourning Graham's passing. The longtime South Carolina senator died Saturday evening at age 71. An autopsy performed Sunday suggested he died from an aortic dissection caused by arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease, although officials said further toxicological and microscopic testing remains pending before a final cause of death is certified.
A statement from Graham's office noted, "The death certificate will be PENDING until all the toxicological and microscopic testing are finalized, and at that point the death certificate will be updated to reflect the cause of death and appropriately classify the manner of death."
In the end, the most striking aspect of this episode is not that an academic harbored intense political views. Universities have always been homes to passionate disagreement. Rather, it is that a professor entrusted with educating future citizens publicly celebrated the death of a political opponent, only to rediscover the virtues of compassion once daylight, and public scrutiny, arrived.
