Twitter deleted a controversial tweet by Priyamvada Gopal, an Indian origin professor from Cambridge University on Monday. The tweet had allegedly read, “I’ll say it again. White Lives Don’t Matter. As white lives”.
This was followed by a series of tweets in a similar manner, as well as another set of controversial tweets that said that “Brahmin Lives Don’t Matter”.
This caused outrage across the University as well as Twitter, as well as a petition to expel Priyamvada from the University. The petition said that “her statements are racist and hateful and must not be tolerated by Cambridge University leadership. Cambridge must move to immediately discontinue their relationship with Ms. Gopal in the best interest of all students and the community at large.”
However, she not only remains in her job but has also received a promotion to full professorship at the university.
Cambridge, however, came out in defense of their faculty member, saying that everyone had the right to express their opinion and has condemned abuse against her. In addition to this, the university has also promoted her position to a full-time one.
In response to this backlash, Twitter deleted her White lives don’t matter post, and left the other posts untouched.
Following this, Priyamvada came out in clarification on the microblogging site, saying, “They were very clearly speaking to a structure and ideology, not about people. My Tweet said whiteness is not special, not a criterion for making lives matter. I stand by that”.
Priyamvada Gopal is a Reader in Anglophone and Related Literature in the Faculty of English and Fellow, Churchill College, University of Cambridge, and is now a full-time professor in the University.