Professor Watchlist

Dr. Steven Thrasher is an Assistant Professor of Journalism and the Daniel H. Renberg Chair of Social Justice in Reporting at Northwestern University. His university biography details his role as having an “emphasis on issues relevant to the LGBTQ community.”

Professor Thrasher is on record defending the riots and looting that occurred in response to George Floyd’s death. In an interview with NPR, he described the rampant destruction and burning of police stations by rioters as a “proportionate response.”

Thrasher was previously the subject of controversy after his commencement speech at New York University, in which he referred to then-President Donald Trump as a “fascist” saying:

“Many of us have been together at Occupy Wall Street, and at Black Lives Matter protests, and against that fascist in the White House … I am so proud, so proud, of NYU’s chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voices for Peace for supporting the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement against the apartheid state government in Israel.”

It was later discovered that he had made numerous anti-Semitic remarks on his Twitter account. He also posts LGBTQ celebrations.

This website @Polymarket, where you can place bets on when people will be murdered by Israel, is the most crudely genocidal forms of market capitalism I’ve seen since viaticals. Death as speculative finance. A sign of a truly diseased society. https://t.co/KXffrdbTxT pic.twitter.com/buQeBlisM0

— 🍉Prof. Thrasher is on summer writing hiatus 🔻 (@thrasherxy) June 15, 2024

Well, it’s been a tough school yr & summer begins NOW, but I’ll tell you one thing I learned: how I want to be in the world as a professor. I want to be outdoors, working as a team, teaching & learning with the public—& I want to help folx know how loved they are.

Happy Pride. pic.twitter.com/dFJUrvKktt

— 🍉Prof. Thrasher is on summer writing hiatus 🔻 (@thrasherxy) June 22, 2024

Hello Chicago gays, lesbians, queers, bisexuals, trans folx and allies! We are down at the @ISGMH @NorthwesternU tent at Pride Fest on Halstead. We’re giving away Narcan, fentanyl test strips, first aid kits, sharing about our research & recruiting for our studies. Come say hi! pic.twitter.com/HVoHQSqXeu

— 🍉Prof. Thrasher is on summer writing hiatus 🔻 (@thrasherxy) June 22, 2024

PROTESTS; ANTI-LAW ENFORCEMENT

During anti-Israel protests on college campuses across the United States, Thrasher published an opinion editorial with Lit Hub in which he claimed the public was being lied to about the violence reported by mainstream media. 

Upon visiting several “Liberation Zones”, Thrasher wrote:

“Over the previous few days, I had gone to bed or woken up to dark, war-like scenes of unspeakable violence waged by police and state troopers who were often wielding machine guns, lobbing chemical weapons, and shooting rubber-coated bullets. Though some of the police raids happened in daylight, most have happened at night, with projectile-gun blasts and flash bangs lighting up sinister spectacles of utter chaos.”

He further declared:

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Updated – July 2024