drphillips2001
@drphillips2001
Followers
3,349
Following
3,025
Media
1,227
Statuses
22,089
Historian & author of "White Metropolis" and co-author of the upcoming "The Purifying Knife: The Troubling History of Eugenics in Texas." He/him.
North Central Texas
Joined November 2008
Don't wanna be here?
Send us removal request.
Explore trending content on Musk Viewer
Brazil
• 1277879 Tweets
#BUS1stFANCON_KnockKnockKnock
• 392181 Tweets
Kimi
• 75566 Tweets
GULF NEW SONG
• 74984 Tweets
TEDDYTINT x POND
• 58019 Tweets
음악중심
• 53099 Tweets
Ticketmaster
• 40628 Tweets
#PUTV1stWin
• 31784 Tweets
Djokovic
• 31442 Tweets
#플레이브_일위밖에_안보여
• 28629 Tweets
Briggitte
• 26122 Tweets
札幌2歳
• 25857 Tweets
Qoo10
• 23889 Tweets
레이브 1위
• 23025 Tweets
Stanford
• 18255 Tweets
台風一過
• 14606 Tweets
ポムの樹
• 10574 Tweets
A student who plagiarized off the web and ran it through software that paraphrases to conceal the theft referred to President Ulysses S. Grant as Ulysses S. Award. Kids, don’t cheat.
202
2K
21K
It’s almost like a moral panic was entirely manufactured to advance a political agenda.
"A study of 5.6mn courses at nearly 4,000 higher education institutions shows just 0.08% mention critical race theory, structural racism, systemic racism or diversity, equity and inclusion."
60
534
2K
121
3K
10K
Shai Davidai is an assistant professor at Columbia who can't handle the presence of Muslims and I'm a former full-time professor reduced to adjunct status because I recommended my students wear masks to protect themselves against Covid. Academia is not a meritocracy.
The guy, who found a Muslim prayer at Columbia University to be frightening, must have never learned about Kent State. And if he did, well...
11
48
371
22
948
5K
My college has now clarified that, in addition to faculty not being allowed to mention that masks can reduce your risks of getting sick and dying from Covid, we can't mention the advisability of social distancing, which is moot since our classrooms are being packed to capacity.
184
604
2K
We'll all remember where we were when we first heard that
#DonaldTrump
's Twitter account was permanently suspended.
81
198
2K
1) Since I am being fired by Collin College, I should note that in my 14 years there, I’ve written all or part of nine books. I’ve authored three articles and 29 reviews of historical monographs for scholarly journals as well.
31
223
1K
1) A Thread:
In October, the East Texas Historical Association named me “Educator of the Year.” Last Friday, I was told by Collin College in Collin County, Texas, that I am getting fired. My contract will not be renewed when it expires May 15.
82
667
1K
How do they possibly remember World War II in Germany?
10
175
1K
In short, at my college educators are being prohibited from educating so we don’t upset irrational political extremists.
12
141
1K
Remember that there were anti-maskers 100 years ago and they caused death and mayhem then as well.
17
313
975
Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette are apparently not confident about their immediate political futures.
The White House on lockdown: A federal law enforcement source tells NBC that beginning tomorrow, crews will build a “non-scalable” fence to secure the WH complex, Ellipse and Lafayette Square.
250 National Guardsmen have been put on standby, reporting to Metro Police officials.
11K
13K
27K
40
148
811
"Purity of the ballot box." That phrase was in the original wording of the Jim Crow disenfranchisement bill passed by the Texas House. I guess "ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer" was too hard to pronounce.
8
125
599
Three professors have now been fired by my college since January for the terrible sin of disagreeing with the president, of trying to organize a faculty association, and trying to keep faculty, students, and staff safe and Covid.
14
94
591
21) I deserve a contract renewal. I am an award-winning author, a sought-after speaker and I am respected in my field, the history of racism and racial ideology in Texas and the American Southwest.
7
38
572
12) I have accomplished all a professor is supposed to do. The only issue that has resulted in me losing my job is that Collin College does not respect the First Amendment.
17
61
564
4) I have often been asked to explain myself to administrators for engaging in free speech since 2017 when I became a leader in the movement to remove white supremacist Confederate statues in Dallas.
3
48
553
24) Without free speech at American colleges and universities, a significant part of American democracy dies. What happens at Collin College has repercussions for higher education not just for the rest of Texas but across the entire country.
2
69
524
23) But signing a contract at Collin College does not require a waiver of guaranteed civil liberties. A stand must be taken.
3
25
522
No other college in the Dallas-Fort Worth area is taking such a dangerous approach to the Delta variant.
5
53
494
26) I am determined because I know my cause is right. I will not allow the Bill of Rights to be trampled upon. I will assert my civil rights in the appropriate venues. Thank you for your support.
6
27
498
1) I've been overwhelmed by the support I've received from around the country since news broke yesterday that I was fired by Collin College because I exercised my free speech rights.
15
36
499
It is a moral duty of university and college presidents to condemn attempts to overturn elections by violence and intimidation. Those who don’t have failed in their responsibilities.
5
68
461
11) This gag rule was clearly unconstitutional. Collin College is a public institution. I revealed this policy to the public on social media.
2
29
470
2) Faculty are particularly vulnerable at Collin College because the institution does not offer tenure. Our contracts have to be repeatedly renewed. Professors have lost their jobs for speaking out.
2
37
461
To put what my college is doing in context, consider this:
5
95
440
3) I now share the fate of other excellent educators and scholars who have been forced out in the last two years by the Collin College administration for exercising the basic rights of American citizens.
2
33
437
10) This referred to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order banning vaccine and mask mandates. Abbott’s executive order did not prohibit any public employee or institution from encouraging mask use. Abbott himself encouraged wearing masks in his executive order.
2
27
429
14) I told them about anti-mask leagues during the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 and how such resistance seriously damaged efforts to bring the flu under control.
2
35
429
22) The news that I have been fired is heartbreaking to me. Teaching, mentoring, and getting to know my students and watching them flower into full adulthood has been one of the most rewarding parts of my life.
2
25
422
25) I am committed to fighting not just for my free speech rights, but for that of all faculty, staff, and students not only at my institution but everywhere in this nation. I look forward to telling my story more fully in the coming weeks.
8
19
420
5) I co-authored a letter published by the Dallas Morning News that called for the monuments to be taken down. The letter identified me as a member of the Collin College faculty.
3
28
416
7) This is just one of several instances in which my free speech rights and that of my colleagues were violated under the current Collin College administration.
2
28
409
13) . . . writing a paper on the history of pandemics and epidemics in North America from the time of Christopher Columbus to the Coronavirus.
2
20
403
6) An administrator asked to meet with me and warned me that this violated college policy. Another faculty member signed the open letter and that was later given as one excuse for firing her.
2
26
396
8) Last August, the administration imposed a gag order on Collin College faculty, declaring that “We cannot have any written language (signs, syllabus) anywhere requesting/requiring/ recommending (verb choice doesn’t matter) masks . . . "
3
47
394
12) I also encouraged students on the first day of the fall semester to wear masks for the sake of their health and that of others while I was discussing their first assignment . . .
2
18
391
27) I think that this is yet one more Collin College case for you, .
6
32
378
18) The institution’s senior vice president proposed that I could make a “graceful exit” from the college by working with the administration to “construct a narrative” around my departure. He suggested that perhaps I could say I was leaving voluntarily.
6
36
364
9) " . . . We also cannot encourage folks to wear them in person. This is to comply with the governor’s order.”
3
26
342
15) Shortly thereafter, I was called in to meet with my associate dean and dean and was issued a discipline warning for my speech in the classroom and my social media posts revealing the gag rule.
3
18
341
I am honored to announce that I have received SMU's Bill & Rita Clements Senior Research Fellowship for the Study of Southwestern America for the 2022-23 academic year in order to complete my manuscript, “The Strange Career of Eugenics in Texas, 1854-1940."
51
0
331
@WestminsterWAG
@campbellclaret
He also has "The Bell Curve," a book that relies on eugenicists misrepresents data, & argues that Black and Brown people are intrinsically less intelligent than white people. I have the book too because I study the history of racism. I fear he see this as solid research.
20
21
277
16) A few days after that, my associate dean and dean told me that they were not recommending the extension of my contract.
2
18
303
19) He further said that, with such cooperation, the college could help me in my search for a new position.
2
16
305
An article about what happened to me in The Chronicle of Higher Education.
13
113
307
My college campus is in Plano, Texas. Someone took this shot of an anti-mask speaker at a Plano school district board meeting when they were debating the district's mask policies. This is what we are are dealing with.
75
75
289
Today, an African American student said to me, "You're the first white professor I've had who was willing to say what should be obvious. You made me feel like you were including me and talking about people who looked like me. That matters." That made my semester.
2
6
304
Our Collin College colleague died of Covid contracted while teaching. She was anonymously referred to as a side note in the 22nd paragraph of an email sent by our college president, Her name was Iris Meda. Say it & help her family.
@bfriauf
@LDBurnett
2
127
293
17) My provost and the senior vice president for campus operations later also recommended that my contract not be renewed. Last week, I was told to meet with them.
3
14
293
@mattyglesias
It is terrible that historians see the past in new ways as they uncover new evidence, acknowledge new perspectives, incorporate the stories of how events affected groups previously ignored, & make use of new theoretical insights. It's almost like they seek better understanding.
0
15
271
11) The Council on Excellence, a faculty body, recommended the extension of my contract this semester.
I am respected in my field, by my colleagues, and by my students.
2
13
271
I locked my office for the last time at Collin College today. The battle for free speech at that institution will continue elsewhere.
22
0
270
8) It’s not a matter of vanity for me to say that I have likely accomplished as much or more than most on the faculty at my college.
1
9
266
10) One student last semester wrote on an evaluation, "I had always hated history before this semester, and now it’s one of my favorite classes. Phillips constantly went above and beyond, and I will miss this class once it’s over."
1
14
264
3) I’ve won a fellowship to study the history of eugenics in Texas from the Mellon Foundation and the American Council of Learned Societies. I won a Charlton Oral History Research Grant from Baylor University.
1
17
258
Somebody wanted verification of the directive at my college that faculty should not only avoid mentioning masks in our syllabi but even social distancing. This is from an email attachment we were were sent yesterday.
19
78
257
A woman dressing modestly for an academic conference so she can be taken seriously.
4
22
256
2) I’ve presented papers or participated in panels at academic conferences and other educational forums 38 times. I’ve been an invited speaker for public events 55 times.
1
14
251
#twitterstorians
, I can now officially announce that I am one of the first official recipients of a Mellon/ACLS Community College Faculty Fellowship. I will use the research grant to uncover the history of eugenics in Texas from the 1850s to the present.
7
7
241
Tonight, we hit a major milestone with our manuscript on the history of eugenics in Texas. We sent it to our editors at the University of Oklahoma Press.
We started writing this in 2014.
11
9
243
A colleague came up to me in at the campus today, shook his head in dismay, and said he was devastated to hearing of my firing. He said that if someone of my stature could be kicked aside everyone can. He then said I was his hero.
7
7
237
5) I’ve co-sponsored three student organizations (The Muslim Students Association, Working-Class Heroes, and Students Demand Action), have been on the Steering Committee of the Texas Center for Working-Class Studies since its inception in 2014 . . .
1
12
238
9) My student evaluations have been consistently and overwhelmingly positive.
1
11
232
4) I won the C.K. Chamberlain Award for Best Article of the Year from the East Texas Historical Association and just this past month won the Kenneth E. Hendrickson, Jr. Best Article Award from the Texas Oral History Association.
1
13
226
I never knew that getting fired would get me 1,300+ Twitter followers. I don’t necessarily recommend it, but welcome aboard. I will try to put off being alienating.
5
2
223
6) . . . and I am currently serving on the East Texas Historical Association Board of Directors.
1
13
219
That feeling when your employer insists there's a difference between firing you and not renewing your contract.
8
10
220
7) I am also engaged in the larger North Central Texas community, participating in programs including the Dallas Equal Justice Initiative.
1
13
218
I may be a lowly two-year college professor in Texas fired for exercising free speech but clearly I’m a better person than much of the Harvard faculty.
6
0
217
Since the college announced they're firing me effective May 15, I've suffered daily sadness. When I finish covering a subject I think, "Wow. That's the last time I'll ever cover that topic." Who knows? I might get another teaching gig. But I'm mourning a looming loss.
17
0
212
This is the tweet that got me in trouble.
Note what we were told about discussing masks and Covid with students at my my college today.
18
33
117
7
56
203
Nice racist framing there, Cancun Cruz. In previous eras, the image of immigrants as disease carriers was used by Know-Nothings, the Klan and eugenicists
8
40
195
Whatever happens in the next few days, weeks, months, or years, I will take comfort in the fact that I stood up for members of the faculty at my college whose Constitutional rights were violated, I sought to keep my students safe from Covid, and I denounced racism and homophobia.
7
16
190
1) I won a legal victory today. Here's a thread explaining what happened.
11
0
191
So I guess that white supremacists who wants to pretend that racism isn’t a major factor in American history and culture have embraced hypocritical race theory.
0
41
181
This is the most I've been interviewed since I was involved in the movement to take down Confederate monuments in Dallas and I got a death threat. There seems to be a growing awareness of the the threat to the First Amendment posed by Collin College.
1
19
182
@DineshDSouza
I'm a professional, award-winning historian and know that you deliberately distort facts and cherrypick evidence on every issue
3
9
156
I was once called into a virtual Zoom meeting with administrators because of my social media posts, including one in which I described a nightmare I had about no Covid protocols being followed at Collin College when the campus reopened. Yes. I was forced to account for a dream.
5
17
179
@realchasegeiser
Comparing yourself to Confederates is not the genius argument you think it is.
2
0
175
@twitterstorians
, like my Collin College colleague
@LDBurnett
, I've been targeted by Campus Reform, a group seeking to deny free speech to academics they disagree with. They pay bounties to students & whip up campaigns to get professors fired. This is cowardly & un-American.
8
41
170
1) My colleague, friend, and one of my heroes, Suzanne Jones has been reinstated by Collin College and has won a hard-fought battle for free speech for faculty everywhere.
6
0
177
About 90 minutes ago, a student turned in an assignment to me in person for the very last time in my 14-year career at Collin College."You are the best professor I've ever had," he said. "Thanks for teaching students what they need to know."
1
0
171
@GregAbbott_TX
Except for parents who want their children to be taught history honestly and to attend schools whose library shelves aren’t empty because of book bans.
4
0
161
@toddstarnes
When did we have God in government? During slavery? During indigenous genocide? During Klan terrorism in the Reconstruction era? During … never mind.
3
0
159
By the way, apropos of nothing, here's my most "famous" book:
2
19
156
@jennifernvictor
We have no tenure protections. A professor got fired by the college president for writing a Faculty Council resolution suggesting safer alternatives regarding Covid. Meanwhile, the president didn’t get fired after making a racist “joke” that he couldn’t tell black deans apart.
8
19
151
A couple of selfies from my new workplace at Dallas Hall at SMU.
9
0
155
My wife and I have been offered a contract by the University of Oklahoma Press to author “The Strange Career of Eugenics in Texas, 1854-1940."
14
6
154
I want to live in a world in which college professors have the same free speech rights as rightwing internet vigilantes.
3
16
149
So I’m working on what I hope will be a groundbreaking book on the history of eugenics in Texas, I’m doing some research for an important new documentary on how the Civil War has shaped America today and I got a part-time gig teaching world history at Cabrini University.
7
0
150
I am a consistent critic of the Democratic Party and of American capitalism and imperialism but I know fascism when I see it and the footage from January 6 made me cry. We are in deep, deep danger.
3
0
148
Collin College, which has been in the local and national news repeatedly since the beginning of the pandemic over free speech, labor rights, and racism issues, has now been sued in federal court by Dr. Suzanne Jones, who was fired last year.
4
29
148
As Covid spikes yet again, it's time to remember that it's the people who didn't get vaccinated & resisted mask wearing who have let this virus mutate and thrive. Let me also remind you that I got fired by Collin College, in part, for recommending vaccines and masks to students.
2
0
146
1) The story of my firing by Collin College for exercising my right to free speech is getting out.
1
0
140
A reminder: my institution, Collin College, fired an excellent professor in part for signing an open letter calling for removal of Confederate monuments in Dallas. The rest of the world has moved ahead on this issue at least.
3
22
138
@Lipsle2
@shaunking
@HillaryClinton
45 percent of the party voted for him in 2016 and 25,000 attended his NYC rally, but sure, “no one” likes him.
6
8
131