San Diego Community College District: Chancellor Blocks Professor on Twitter, Dean Asks Professor to Delete Tweet
Cases
San Diego Mesa College
Case Overview
On May 16, 2022, the San Diego Community College District chancellor tweeted about an upcoming event featuring author and activist Alice Walker. After professor Inna Kanevsky replied to the tweet criticizing Walker’s invitation and calling her anti-Semitic, the chancellor blocked Kanevsky’s account. After complaining to her dean that the district was not speaking out against anti-Semitic beliefs, Kanevsky subsequently tweeted criticisms of her dean’s and the chancellor’s attitude toward anti-Semitism, which prompted the dean to ask Kanevsky to delete the tweet. On June 16, FIREwrote to SDCCD explaining that the administrators’ actions violated Kanvesky’s First Amendment rights. One day later, the chancellor deleted his Twitter account.