A California professor's pronoun policy went viral. A bomb threat followed.
A viral tweet criticizing a California professor’s policy on pronouns quickly escalated this week into a bomb threat that stirred faculty and students at California State University, Fresno, into a panic and prompted campuswide evacuations.
The situation is indicative of a pattern becoming increasingly common on school campuses nationwide. As anti-LGBTQ rhetoric online spirals into real-world violence, or threats of it, schools are scrambling to respond.
LibsofTikTok — a group described by the Anti-Defamation League as a “popular anti-LGBTQ+ Twitter account” — tweeted screenshots Wednesday that appeared to be from a class assignment requiring college students to state their preferred pronouns.
The tweet suggested the assignment came from Ida Jones, a business and finance professor at Fresno State. It also included screenshots of a Dec. 30 post on a popular online forum for rating college professors. In the post, a student suggested Jones “removed a large amount of points off of an assignment because I didn't address my pronouns,” which the student said they “didn’t believe in.”
The next day around 11:30 a.m., the Fresno State Police Department was notified about a bomb threat toward the university and a professor’s house, according to an alert from Jennifer Curwick, the university’s interim police chief. The threat was related to a social media post, Curwick said, though she did not specify more about which post.
The school immediately evacuated its dorms, dining hall and a child-care facility. Some professors moved their classes online. A lecturer feared for her family, who was on campus, and frantically texted them. Law enforcement responded to ensure the safety of the professor’s home, Curwick said.
Ultimately, the bomb threat was deemed not credible. Curwick said Thursday the university is “working diligently to identify the source of this threat.”
The university’s public information officer, Lisa Bell, confirmed in an email to USA TODAY that a professor at the university required students to share information about themselves, including their preferred pronouns, as part of a class assignment. Though the school does not have an academic policy requiring students to identify their preferred pronouns, Bell said faculty members are encouraged to create inclusive learning environments.
“While we fully support freedom of speech and expression, we condemn in the strongest possible terms, any actions that threaten the safety of our campus community,” she said.
In a statement to USA TODAY, Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of the LGBTQ rights group GLAAD, condemned the incident. She characterized it as the latest example of escalating violence toward LGBTQ people amid an onslaught of online hate.
“Using the correct pronouns for transgender students, and for any students, is a matter of treating others with dignity and respect, and it shouldn't incite hate,” she said. “We all must speak out against this wave of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and hold platforms and others accountable for their role in perpetuating it, because the consequences are too dire otherwise."
Jones declined to comment for this story.
When reached for comment by USA TODAY, LibsofTikTok wrote in a direct message to this reporter on X, formerly Twitter, “You have pronouns in your bio which tells me that nothing you say should be taken seriously.”
Anti-LGBTQ posts from LibsofTikTok are common, expert says
Five bomb threats were also called this week into a school district and library in northern California. It came on the heels of a different LibsofTikTok post taking issue with a teacher’s lessons on gender identity.
More:Library, schools in one California city are getting bomb threats after right-wing posts
The pattern is a common and recognizable one, said Ari Drennen, LGBTQ program director for Media Matters, a progressive media watchdog. Chaya Raichik is a former real estate agent who runs the LibsofTikTok account.
“It’s just truly a dangerous new era,” Drennen told USA TODAY. “We can’t really afford to pretend that there’s no separation between what goes on social media and what happens in the real world.”
GLAAD’s annual social media safety index, which came out in June, ranked X as the “most dangerous platform for LGBTQ people." Yet the report placed blame on all major social media platforms, which it said are largely failing to mitigate harms for their queer and transgender users.
Zachary Schermele is a breaking news and education reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach him by email at [email protected]. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele.