On Thursday, authorities discovered the body of a white North Carolina professor who recently announced his retirement amid a backlash over his comments on social media, calling the state governor “Massa Cooper” and comparing coronavirus restrictions on living in a “slave state”. Lt. JJ Brewer of the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office said officers found the body of Professor Mike Adams, 55, of the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, while conducting a wellness checkup at his home. , reports CBS affiliate WNCN.
The deputies were conducting a death investigation, but investigators did not release additional details about the circumstances of Adams’ death.
Adams, a tenured professor of sociology and criminology, was due to retire early on August 1. He recently struck a $ 504,702 settlement with the university for lost wages and lost retirement benefits.
In 2016, Adams published an article about a student activist titled “A ‘Queer Muslim Jihad’,” The News & Observer of Raleigh reported.
Another controversy occurred in late May when Adams tweeted about the executive order limiting social gatherings signed by Democratic Governor Roy Cooper during the coronavirus pandemic. Adams tweeted that he dined with six men at a six-seat table and “felt like a free man who did not live in the slave state of North Carolina.” Then he wrote: “Massa Cooper, let my people go!”
The tweets, which the university denounced as “vile,” prompted more than 60,000 people to sign an online petition to fire Adams from his job.
The petition cited Adams “intimidating a student into transferring him to an inflammatory Twitter account that contains threats to minorities and those who exercise their First Amendment rights.”
WNCN reports that the university released a statement Thursday night, saying in part: “It is sad that we share the news that the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office is conducting a death investigation involving Dr. Mike Adams, professor of criminology. Please keep your friends and loved ones in your thoughts. ”
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