Professor Harald Uhlig of the University of Chicago has been reinstated as editor of the Journal of Political Economy after being suspended following attacks by left-wing critics for questioning Black Lives Matter over “defund the police.”
As Breitbart News reported, several left-wing economists pounced on Uhlig earlier this month after he tweeted that while he supported the Black Lives Matter movement, its call to “defund the police” would be counterproductive.
Too bad, but #blacklivesmatter per its core organization @Blklivesmatter just torpedoed itself, with its full-fledged support of #defundthepolice : "We call for a national defunding of police." Suuuure. They knew this is non-starter, and tried a sensible Orwell 1984 of saying,
— Harald Uhlig (@haralduhlig) June 9, 2020
The campaign to have Uhlig removed from the journal was led by University of Michigan economics professor Justin Wolfers, and backed by former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman.
The Chicago Fed did cut ties with Ulhig. But the Journal did not act — until a tweet surfaced, apparently from a former economics student, alleging that Uhlig had made fun of Matin Luther King Jr. Day in the classroom several years before.
@haralduhlig, I sat in your class in Winter 2014:
(1) You talked about scheduling a class on MLK Day
(2) You made fun of Dr. King and people honoring him
(3) You sarcastically asked me in front of everyone whether I was offended
Here is the receipt: @JustinWolfers @and_joy_— Bocar A. Ba (@bocar_a) June 12, 2020
The Journal then suspended Uhlig, pending further investigation. But on Tuesday, it posted a notice on its website:
With the completion of the University of Chicago’s review into Harald Uhlig’s conduct in a classroom setting, the Advisory Board of the Journal of Political Economy has determined that he may return from leave as editor of the Journal. Click here for additional information.
It is not clear what the university found, or whether the Chicago Fed will also reinstate Uhlig, and whether the campaign against him continues. He has not posted a tweet in a week.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His new book, RED NOVEMBER, is available for pre-order. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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