New Details On Rutgers Professor Who Received Death Threats; Some Want Turning Point USA Banned From Campus

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — The Rutgers faculty union came out in support of Mark Bray, the Rutgers professor who said this week he, his wife and their children have to leave the country and relocate to Europe after he received death threats — including one that listed his home address — for comments he made in the past about political violence and antifa.

Bray said he received the death threats one day after Fox News published this Change.org petition last week, which was launched by the Rutgers chapter of conservative student group Turning Point USA, founded by the late Charlie Kirk.

The petition calls for Rutgers to fire Bray because of statements he's made, including this interview and this 2017 interview with Chuck Todd on "Meet the Press."

In those interviews, Turning Point USA alleges Bray endorsed political violence.

In response, other Rutgers students launched this petition Sunday that calls for Rutgers to ban the Turning Point USA chapter from campus. So far, more than 1,700 students have signed that petition.

Bray himself told the Guardian newspaper Tuesday:

“I am not now, nor have I ever been, part of any kind of antifascist or anti-racist organization – I just haven’t. I’m a professor. I’m a professor of the history of the left," he said.

However, in this interview he gave in June, Bray describes himself as an "activist."

"I've been interested in left politics, radical politics for many years both as an activist and as scholar," he said. "And if you're studying efforts to ... transform society you sort of inevitably stumble into those powers that have thwarted those efforts, and one of the most extreme examples would be fascism in the '20s, '30s and '40s."

The Rutgers' faculty union argues Bray is doing public scholarship.

"This week, our colleague Dr. Mark Bray has come under attack by Turning Point USA’s Rutgers chapter for his public scholarship. Their campaign to have Dr. Bray fired has resulted in doxxing and death threats that extended to his partner, Dr. Yesenia Barragan, also our colleague, forcing Drs. Barragan and Bray to leave their home for their safety and that of their children," said Rutgers' two faculty unions, Rutgers AAUP-AFT and the Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union.

Bray and Barragan both teach in the history department on the Rutgers New Brunswick campus.

The Rutgers faulty union also says Turning Point is behind the 2016 creation of the “Professor Watchlist,” which includes several Rutgers faculty members.

AAUP-AFT called on Rutgers administration to support Bray.

"The bad-faith effort to get him fired is an affront to Rutgers’ values of academic freedom, as well as to Turning Point’s self-proclaimed commitment to a culture of open debate," said the union. "The threats against professors Barragan and Bray are a predictable consequence of Turning Point’s campaign to distort Dr. Bray’s views."

The statement in support of Bray was signed by Whitney Strub, Co-Chair, Joint Academic Freedom Committee, Rutgers AAUP-AFT; Sean T. Mitchell, Co-Chair, Joint Academic Freedom Committee, Rutgers AAUP-AFT; Hank Kalet, Co-Chair, Joint Academic Freedom Committee, Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union; Rebecca Givan, President, Rutgers AAUP-AFT and Heather Pierce, President, Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union.

Tuesday: Rutgers Professor Says He Has To Leave Country After Getting Death Threats