College professor fired for suggesting Iran bomb the Mall of America

The post reportedly said, “In retaliation, Ayatollah Khomenei should tweet a list of 52 sites of beloved American cultural heritage that he would bomb. Um… Mall of America? Kardashian residence?"

Main gate of Babson College (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
Main gate of Babson College
(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
Babson College professor Asheen Phansey was fired after writing a Facebook post suggesting that Iran bomb the Mall of America and the Kardashian residence, according to US media outlets.
Phansey’s post reportedly said, “In retaliation, Ayatollah Khomenei should tweet a list of 52 sites of beloved American cultural heritage that he would bomb. Um… Mall of America? Kardashian residence?”
Babson denounced the post in a statement saying that it, “does not represent the values and culture of the College,” adding that it “condemns any type of threatening words and/or actions condoning violence and/or hate."
The Mall of America is one of the country's largest malls, located in a suburb of the Twin Cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota. The estate of power couple Kim Kardashian and Kanye West is in the Los Angeles suburb of Hidden Hills, California.
The Facebook post was allegedly in response to US President Donald Trump’s tweet warning that if Iran were to strike Americans or US assets following the assassination of Qasem Soleimani, the US would retaliate by targeting 52 Iranian sites, “(representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago), some at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture.”

In an email to the Boston Herald, Phansey wrote: “I regret my bad attempt at humor. As an American, born and raised, I was trying to juxtapose our ‘cultural sites’ with ancient Iranian churches and mosques. I am completely opposed to violence and would never advocate it by anyone. I am sorry that my sloppy humor was read as a threat. I condemn all acts of violence," he said.
“I am particularly sorry to cause any harm or alarm for my colleagues at Babson, my beloved alma mater, and the place where I have enjoyed teaching students and serving as its sustainability director,” he added.
On Wednesday, Babson College released a statement saying that it had “immediately suspended” Phansey. The college added that despite the fact that he “deleted the posts, we have immediately suspended him, with pay, pending the completion of our investigation. In addition, we are cooperating with local, state and federal authorities.”
The next day, Babson announced that Phansey was “no longer a Babson College employee,” however, he was never named in the statement and the school referred to him as a “staff member.”

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Natan Rothstein contributed to this report.