Former North Carolina Professor Found Dead After Resigning Amid Twitter Controversy

written by @lysshoekstra

Former University of North Carolina Wilmington professor Mike Adams, who recently announced his retirement after angering students over “racist” and “sexist” Twitter comments, was found dead in his home, according to the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office.

According to CNN, police found Adams alone and deceased in his home during a welfare check on Thursday afternoon. Just last month, UNCW announced that the criminology professor would be retiring August 1, following campus uproar over a series of tweets, that lead to two separate Change.org petitions calling for his removal.

“This evening, I ate pizza and drank beer with six guys at a six-seat tabletop. I almost felt like a free man who was not living in the slave state of North Carolina. Massa Cooper, let my people go!” Adams tweeted May 29, referring to North Carolina Governor, Roy Cooper and the stay at home restrictions imposed by the state due to COVID-19.

In another tweet on May 28, Adams wrote, “Don’t shut down the universities. Shut down the non-essential majors. Like Women’s Studies.” Adams was also the author “Feminists Say the Darndest Things: A Politically Incorrect Professor Confronts ‘Womyn’ on Campus.” The book description on Amazon reads, “What happens when a conservative Christian white male professor with a wicked sense of humor –stands up to his feminazi colleagues? The darndest things!”

The university addressed the controversy in a statement to CNN on June 6, calling the professor’s tweets “vile and inexcusable.”  Then in a later update posted to the UNCW website, the university announced Adams would retire. “Over the past several weeks, many of you have inquired about the status of a UNCW faculty member, Dr. Mike Adams, in light of the public attention generated by comments he made on his personal social media channels,” Chancellor Jose V. Sartarelli said. “We can now share the update that after a discussion with Chancellor Sartarelli, Dr. Adams has decided to retire from UNCW, effective August 1, 2020.”

Adams was set to receive $504,702 from the school for lost salary and lost retirement benefits, according to Spectrum News 1. Jerry Brewer, a public information officer with the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Department said the investigation into the former professor’s death is ongoing.

https://twitter.com/mikesadams/status/1266506726351802370?s=21