Michael Chikindas, a veteran professor in the food science department, reportedly posted dozens of anti-Jewish and anti-Israel comments on his page over several months.
A Rutgers professor accused of posting anti-Semitic posts on his Facebook page over several months earlier this year will lose his role as a director and will no longer be allowed to teach required classes, officials announced. The school is also seeking further punishments under its faculty agreement.
Rutgers Professor Michael Chikindas. (Courtesy of Rutgers University)
Michael Chikindas, a veteran professor in the food science department, reportedly posted dozens of anti-Jewish and anti-Israel comments on his page over several months, including some saying the Armenian genocide was orchestrated by Jews.
Chikindas claimed his Facebook page was hacked but did not deny sharing some of the cartoons, images and comments considered anti-Semitic.
Rutgers President Robert Barchi said Chikindas will no longer teach required courses and will be removed from his post as director of the Center for Digestive Health at the Institute for Food, Nutrition and Health. Chikindas, a Rutgers professor since 1998 who earned tenure in 2007, will undergo cultural sensitivity training and will be "subject to ongoing monitoring if and when he returns to the classroom," Barchi said.
He said Rutgers is also seeking further disciplinary action through Appendix H of the collective bargaining agreement with the faculty union, which outlines the process of faculty suspensions at less than full pay.
"The faculty contract requires that a specific process be followed in making a determination if a suspension of a faculty member is unpaid or at reduced pay," Dory Devlin, a spokeswoman for the university, said. "That process is being followed as the faculty contract requires."
Barchi, in his statement, said: "This has been a sad and deeply troubling situation for our students and our staff, and for our faculty, who stand for much nobler values than those expressed by this particular professor.
"While the university is and should always be a place that challenges students to grapple with complex and even controversial ideas, this situation has threatened the trust between professors and students that is a prerequisite to learning."
He continued: "It is our hope that we can navigate these difficult conversations together and that, having been tested by these challenges, we can emerge stronger and with renewed appreciation of our common bonds."
Chikindas did not immediately return an email seeking comment.
The posts were deleted after several blogs posted them online, but several of the comments remain on these websites. In one post, Chikindas' account shared a story with the headline, "The Globalists: Who Controls Us! (Full Info)". Above the link is a comment that reads, in part, "These jewish motherf****** do not control me. They can go and f*** each other in their fat arses (sic)."
The professor's account also posted racist cartoon-images depicting Jews and a link to a conspiracy theorists claiming the 9/11 attacks were planned by Israel and American Jews, according to accounts in the Jewish press. In other posts, Chikindas referred to Israeli and American women, including first lady Melania Trump and Ivanka Trump, as "sluts" and "bitches."
In an email to NJ Advance Media in October, Chikindas denied his posts were anti-Semitic and claimed his account was hacked.
"As a result of my account being hacked, I cannot say with confidence that everything on my page was shared by me: There is a good chance for some things being placed on my page by those who hacked my account," he said.
He did not, however, deny sharing some of the cartoons and images.
"I do not identify myself as anti-Semite. It is my lifelong credo that all people are born equal regardless of their ethnicity, religion and wealth. I am equally intolerant to all forms of racism, without any exclusions," Chikindas said in his email. "The pictures I shared from other Facebook pages were not removed by the Facebook mediators which made me think they are not violating any rules while raising a question of possible racist nature of Zionism."
StandWithUs, a non-profit Israel education organization, commended the Rutgers Hillel organization for holding Chikindas accountable and said the Rutgers administration "did the right thing in the end."
"I'm proud of the students at Rutgers who stood up and sent a clear message that racism and homophobia have no place on campus," said Rena Nasar, Tri-State Campus Director for StandWithUs.
NJ Advance Media reporter Kelly Heyboer contributed to this report.
Alex Napoliello may be reached at anapoliello@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexnapoNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
Quentin C. Hunt is charged with stealing from a teacher's bag at a Catholic school in Old Bridge. (Photo courtesy Old Bridge police) 
