Saida Grundy, a sociology professor headed to Boston University, caused quite the stir with a few recent tweets aimed at "white college males" who she believes make up a "problem population."
Grundy, whose Twitter account is now private, also tweeted, "White masculinity is THE problem for America's colleges."
After some deemed her tweets racist, Grundy supporters started an online petition and the hashtag #IStandWithSaida.
On Tuesday, Grundy apologized for the tweets, which were publicly criticized by the university president. "I regret that my personal passion about issues surrounding these events led me to speak about them indelicately," she said in a statement viewed by the Associated Press. "I deprived them of the nuance and complexity that such subjects always deserve."
Boston University President Robert Brown issued an open letter addressing the controversy brewing behind Grundy's tweets. "I do not say this lightly or without a great deal of consultation and soul-searching," Brown's letter states, according to AP. "I understand there is a broader context to Dr. Grundy's tweets and that, as a scholar, she has the right to pursue her research, formulate her views, and challenge the rest of us to think differently about race relations. But we also must recognize that words have power and the words in her Twitter feed were powerful in the way they stereotyped and condemned other people."
But Grundy supporters say that in this heightened racial climate, which includes the deaths of several unarmed black men, women and children that sparked the #BlackLivesMatter movement, the world is ready for open and honest dialogue about race.
"Racism extends to virtually every institution in American society—including higher education," the petition in support of Grundy reads. "Calling Professor Grundy's tweets racist minimizes the very real effects of racism for people of color in the United States."
Brown, the university president, told AP that Grundy "will report for work on July 1."
Read more at Yahoo News.