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Please Help Me Recover From My Forced Resignation

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I served as Professor of Philosophy and Coordinator of the Philosophy Program at Midwestern State University from 2008 until I was compelled to resign my tenured position in August 2021. 

Between June and December of 2020 I was subject to a protracted campaign of harassment, intimidation, doxing, and violent threats at the hands of fascists, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other right-wing extremists in response to protected political expression that was made in my capacity as a private citizen. Throughout this period I received hundreds of death threats via email, phone, text, and conventional mail, many of which contained hateful and derogatory anti-Semitic language. My residence was vandalized with anti-Semitic graffiti on more than one occasion. I was repeatedly and publicly defamed in several high-profile online venues even as the university was inundated with hysterical calls for my dismissal. For several months I could not even show his face in public without being heckled and harassed by strangers. Unrecognized individuals drove by my home day and night, snapping pictures with their phones or shouting obscenities; some parked outside for hours at a time. Local businesses denied me service on at least a dozen occasions. 


Throughout this ordeal the university made no effort to defend my personal or professional reputation, take proactive measures to protect my safety, or even express concern for my well-being privately. It did not see fit to publicly condemn the heinous violence and harassment to which I had been subject, let alone the white supremacist and fascist ideologies that fueled them. Instead the former president of MSU, Dr. Suzanne Shipley, elected to publicly denounce me and, in so doing, manifestly violated the very same institutional values she claimed to uphold, not least the university’s commitment to protecting freedom of expression. These shameful and cowardly actions exemplify a long pattern of inaction and callous indifference on the part of the MSU administration to previous instances of racist, anti-Semitic attacks against me.


As a result of the aforementioned campaign of terror, coupled with the university's betrayal,  I developed post-traumatic stress disorder and was subsequently hospitalized on several occasions. The university  responded by refusing to provide various accommodations Jun had requested under the Americans with Disabilities Act, effectively leaving him with no choice but to resign his position. In so doing, the university "used the trauma it helped generate as part of a strategy to oust the professor suffering from it and thereby appease right-wing activists, politicians, and donors" (https://dailynous.com/2021/09/17/tale-two-resignations/).  The financial consequences of this affair have been devastating to me. Please help me recover; any amount you are willing and able to donate will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Nathan Jun, Ph.D.

Organizer

Buenaventura Berkman
Organizer
Cleveland, OH

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