US varsity reacts as Nigerian-born professor wishes Queen Elizabeth II ‘excruciating’ death

The Carnegie Mellon University, USA, has expressed reservations over the tweets by Uju Anya, a lecturer in its institution, over her remarks regarding Queen Elizabeth II of England.

Queen Elizabeth II died on Thursday. She was aged 96 and was the longest-serving British monarch at the time of her death.

Earlier on Thursday, Anya, an associate professor of second language acquisition at Carnegie Mellon University, in a series of tweets, criticised the late monarch.

Before the monarch died, Anya had wished her “excruciating pain”.

The Nigerian-born academic had also accused Queen Elizabeth II of sponsoring the “genocide” that led to her family being displaced.

The professor, whose father is Igbo, did not explain the exact context of her comment regarding what she referred to as “sponsored the genocide that massacred and displaced half my family”.

If anyone expects me to express anything but disdain for the monarch who supervised a government that sponsored the genocide that massacred and displaced half my family and the consequences of which those alive today are still trying to overcome, you can keep wishing upon a star.

Advertisement

— Uju Anya (@UjuAnya) September 8, 2022

However, her tweets may not be unrelated to the Nigerian civil war of 1967 to 1970, which took place less than 10 years after Nigeria got its independence from Britain.

Anya’s tweets have received tens of thousands of mixed reactions.

The university, in reaction to the development, said although it believes in “free expression”, it does not condone the views expressed by the professor.

“We do not condone the offensive and objectionable messages posted by Uju Anya today on her personal social media account,” the post reads.

“Free expression is core to the mission of higher education, however, the views she shared absolutely do not represent the values of the institution no the standards of discourse we seek to foster.”

A statement regarding recent social media posts by Uju Anya. pic.twitter.com/NinpPa4rZg

Advertisement

— Carnegie Mellon University (@CarnegieMellon) September 8, 2022

Meanwhile, among those who have reacted to the academic’s tweets is Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.

“This is someone supposedly working to make the world better? I don’t think so. Wow,” he wrote.

This is someone supposedly working to make the world better? I don’t think so. Wow. https://t.co/2zoi6CdFMq

— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) September 8, 2022

Advertisement