Update on 'hydra-headed monster' professor

Ok, so the professor isn't a hydra-headed monster. But he used the term to describe Israel. Thus, I will now call him the hydra-headed prof.

A couple weeks ago we brought you the story of Lincoln University professor Kaukab Siddique, who was filmed over the Labor Day holiday spewing hate towards Israel (he called on Muslims to "dismantle" it), and who has denied the Holocaust and said Jews have "taken over America" by "devious and immoral means."

At that time, the university said it could not do anything since the professor was tenured. The university, as far as I can tell, is still standing by that claim. But some in Pennsylvania aren't satisfied with the university's explanation, including some state lawmakers.

Erick Stakelbeck, who broke the story, has an update:

But more importantly, the report drew the attention of Pennsylvania state lawmakers, some of whom sent a letter to Lincoln University calling for a probe into Siddique's anti-Semitic diatribes. Siddique -- a Muslim who originally hails from Pakistan -- is an associate professor of English at Lincoln U., which has received nearly $200 million in Pennsylvania state money since 2003 alone. Given its acceptance of extremely generous state funding, the school's continuing association with a highly visible, public hatemonger like Siddique obviously raises serious questions, some of which were addressed in the lawmakers' letter to Lincoln University president Ivory V. Nelson. ...

And now the Chairman of the Pennsylvania State Board of Education, Joseph Torsella, is demanding answers -- and action -- from Lincoln University.

Stackelbeck has an excerpt of the letter, which includes Torsella questioning Siddique's fitness to teach due to his denial of the Holocaust:

In my view, Mr. Siddique's Holocaust denials go directly to his fitness to educate the students in his charge (particularly since I understand that he teaches, among other subjects, a course in journalism). As you know, state regulations (22 Pa. Code section 31.24(b)) governing institutions of higher education in the Commonwealth require that faculty "shall be ... qualified to teach in their fields of specialization."

You can view Stackelbeck's post here and the full letter here.