Georgetown University removed a professor who appeared to call for Iran to attack United States military bases in the Middle East on X, according to Robert Groves, the university’s interim president.
At the July 15 House Committee on Education and Workforce’s most recent hearing on campus antisemitism, Groves announced that tenured professor Jonathan Brown was no longer the chair of Georgetown’s department of Arabic and Islamic studies.
“Within minutes of our learning of that tweet, the dean contacted Professor Brown. The tweet was removed,” Groves said at the hearing, according to a report by Jewish Insider. “We issued a statement condemning the tweet. Professor Brown is no longer chair of his department. He’s on leave, and we’re beginning a process of reviewing the case.”
Brown, the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal chair of Islamic civilization in Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service, received backlash in June for commenting on the U.S. attack on Iran.
He wrote, “I’m not an expert, but I assume Iran could still get a bomb easily. I hope Iran does some symbolic strike on a base, then everyone stops.”
Brown then added, “I deleted my previous tweet because a lot of people were interpreting it as a call for violence. That’s not what I intended. I have two immediate family members in the US military who’ve served abroad and wouldn’t want any harm to befall American soldiers … or anyone!”
A statement by Georgetown the day after Brown’s post read, “We are appalled that a faculty member would call for a ‘symbolic strike’ on a military base in a social media post. … We are reviewing this matter to see if further action is warranted. We take our community’s concerns seriously and condemn language which is deeply inconsistent with Georgetown University’s values.”
In response to his post, Brown has received “death threats, his family has come under attack and members of the university administration have also criticized and disavowed him,” according to history professor Gregory Afinogenov, the president of Georgetown’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors.
Others do not believe that Brown deserved to face consequences for his post.
On July 15, the Council on American-Islamic Relations sent a letter to Groves calling for the reinstatement of Brown, a “respected scholar and professor” over his “misrepresented social media post in which he attempted to call for a swift end to last month’s U.S. war
on Iran.”
“Georgetown University should reverse its decision to target Dr. Jonathan Brown — a widely respected academic and advocate for racial equality, interfaith dialogue — based on a dishonest, bad-faith attack over a tweet that he deleted and clarified,” the letter read.
“After the Trump administration attacked Iran last month, Professor Brown tried to express hope that Iran’s retaliation would be minimal and that the war would then end. Hoping for a swift end to the war was the clear intent of his message. … Dr. Brown’s wording may have been abbreviated by the nature of the platform, but his underlying message was clear: he hoped the violence would cease.”
In addition, Afinogenov told Inside Higher Ed that Georgetown should clarify that Brown’s post was “protected speech.”
Brown retains his faculty appointment, which includes his position as chair of Islamic civilization. The professor, who specializes in Middle Eastern studies, has been the center of controversy for years over some of his academic views and anti-Israel advocacy, according to JNS. Brown did not respond to multiple requests for comment in time for publication.
Jewish students at Georgetown “didn’t like” the fact that a professor posted what Brown did, according to Rabbi Levi Shemtov, the executive vice president of American Friends of Lubavitch, who oversees the Chabad operations across Washington, D.C. But he said this matter goes beyond the Jewish student population and is concerning to all Americans due to his perceived call for violence against U.S. forces.
Shemtov said he was pleased with Georgetown’s decision to place Brown on leave for his post.
“It’s an encouraging small step which will hopefully lead to a lot more correction of the larger issues faced by Jewish students on campus,” Shemtov told Washington Jewish Week.
