Harald Uhlig, Professor of Economics at University of Chicago, received backlash and calls for his firing for a series of tweets criticizing BLM and #defundthepolice.
Too bad, but #blacklivesmatter per its core organization @Blklivesmatter just torpedoed itself, with its full-fledged support of #defundthepolice : "We call for a national defunding of police." Suuuure. They knew this is non-starter, and tried a sensible Orwell 1984 of saying,
— Harald Uhlig (@haralduhlig) June 9, 2020
Uhlig also tweeted, “Sigh. #GeorgeFloyd and his family really didn’t deserve being taken advantage of by flat-earthers and creationists.”
Responding to Uhlig’s rant, Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman called Uhlig “yet another privileged white man who evidently can’t control his urge to belittle the concerns of those less fortunate.”
There have even been calls for his firing at the University of Chicago. Max Auffhammer, UC Berkeley environmental economist, started a petition to have Uhlig removed from his position.
This petition went nowhere though. On June 23, The University of Chicago reinstated Uhlig to his position as journal editor. Another win for free-speech.
Looks like the University of Chicago is staying true to one of its core values.