‘Historian’ Audrey Truschke has been receiving a lot of criticism on social media for her penchant for demonising Hindus. Twitter users have been trending #RacistRutgers on the micro-blogging site, calling out the ‘historian’ for her “hatred, bigotry and racism against Hindus”. The hashtag started trending after Rutgers University issued a statement trying to whitewash Audrey Truschke’s vile and bigoted anti-Hindu remarks.
Rutgers University comes out in defence of bigoted professor Audrey Truschke
In a statement released on Tuesday, the university defended the professor by referring to Hindu Genocide denial and racist rhetoric against Hindus as ‘Academic Freedom’. “Rutgers emphatically supports Professor Truschke, academic freedom in pursuing her scholarship, abhors the vile messages end threats that are being directed at her, and calls for an immediate end to them.” To further justify its support for the controversial historian, Rutgers cited the significance of ‘academic freedom’ in scholarship, said the University statement backing Audrey Truschke.
The University’s statement came on the heels of a petition initiated by a group of students asking Rutgers-Newark University to take strong action against controversial ‘historian’ and Professor Audrey Truschke for demonising Hinduism. The petition was shared on Twitter by the ‘Hindu on Campus’ group.
Hindu students at the varsity initiate petition against Truschke
The students who initiated the petition were miffed with Truschke’s continuous vile and bigoted opinions against Hindus. In an open letter written to the university authorities, the students said that they are “aghast at the bigotry being peddled against Hindus via continued derision of our religion, our deities, and our sacred texts” in the university, which may be a potential threat to their security, as it may lead to “potential attacks, bullying, and backlash, either on campus or via social media, due to our faith”.
The petition specifies how the atmosphere in the university is in odds with the Hindu student due to the hateful and vile anti-Hindu remarks made by professor Audrey Truschke on various occasions.
Students accuse Audrey Truschke of advocating that Hinduism is inherently oppressive
The petition read that the professor falsely linked Hindus with extremists and white supremacists rioting at Capitol Hill. She claimed that Srimad Bhagavad Gita, the holy book of the Hindus, “rationalizes mass slaughter” and violence. Truschke insulted Hindu god and goddesses by calling Lord Ram a “misogynistic pig”.
It accused her of portraying all Hindus as “lustful and sex-obsessed” and ‘cow piss drinkers’. It read that Truschke, in her hate for Hinduism, advocated that Hinduism is inherently oppressive, racist, misogynistic, and violent.
Further accusing her of whitewashing the genocide of Hindus by the Mughal tyrant Aurangzeb, the students questioned the University administration whether they would also fail to address a professor if he/she would characterize Prophet Muhammad, Jesus, or another other central religious figure or sacred literature in a similarly ghastly, bigoted way.
Students demand that Prof Truschke be disallowed to teach a course related to Hinduism
Castigating the administration of the Rutgers University for its bias towards a professor who has always painted Hinduism through the lens of violence, extremism and sex, the students demanded that “Prof Truschke be disallowed to teach a course that involves materials related to Hinduism and India due to her inherent prejudiced views”.
They asked the University to issue a statement publicily condemning the ‘historian’ for causing trauma to Hindu students, alumni, and the Hindu community at large by her irresponsible tweets and remarks.
It asked the University to acknowledge that Hindus in the varsity are religiously, racially and ethnically minoritized, and, thus, should be provided with the same protections and considerations as other minoritized students in the campus. Saying so the petition demanded sufficient measures to ensure the protection of Hindus on campus and asked the varsity to take strict action against those who hurt a specific community on the college campus.
“This rule should be applied to everyone equally and all should feel included on campus”, read the petition.
Hindus trend #RacistRutgers on Twitter
Hindus are trending #RacistRutgers on social media to attract attention to the racism Rutgers University has chosen to defend.
Rutgers Is Racist .
— Rambhakt Vedic (@Vedic_Revival) March 9, 2021
That’s It. That’s the Tweet.
Now pass it on.
They are enabling Hinduphobia through their campus which has led to violence on Hindus.#RacistRutgers https://t.co/uiWlXMhky5
Call them out for what they are doing.
— Tired_Man (@taittiriyaka) March 9, 2021
They are enabling racism and Hindu hatred.
They are whitewashing the atrocities committed against Hindus.
They are protecting a hinduphobic professor with this statement.#RacistRutgers https://t.co/kwxIEPIurF
Rutgers is Racist.
— justwoke (@justwokeipedia) March 9, 2021
Rutgers is enabling hate against Hindu minorities.
Rutgers enabled celebrating the maniac like invader Aurangzeb who has bloods of native of land i.e Hindus in his hands.
That’s It. That’s the Tweet.
Now pass it on.#RacistRutgers https://t.co/jNQddZQb7C
Audrey Truschke receives harsh reviews on Rate My Professors
Audrey Truschke has always been the subject of abject criticism on social media not only for her penchant for demonising Hinduism but also for whitewashing the crimes of the Mughal tyrant Aurangzeb. All this time she has brushed all such criticism under the carpet by claiming that she is a ‘historian’ and pretending that it somehow absolves her apologia for a genocidal maniac.
In October, last year, Truschke had received extremely harsh reviews from students on Rate My Professors as well. She had a rating of 1.7 out of 5 at the Rate My Professors website where students can rate the professors they take classes of. Students have left comments like “horrible teacher”, “unhelpful”, “egoistic”, “nightmare” so on so forth, making her one of the most poorly rated professors on the website.
