Author, researcher, and Carnegie Mellon University faculty member Uju Anya is facing backlash after a series of her “hostile and threatening” social media posts surfaced, according to campus authorities.According to the CMU website, Uju Anya is an associate professor of Second Language Acquisition at the Department of Languages, Cultures & Applied Linguistics of the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences, affiliated with the university.A group called the Carnegie Mellon College Republicans is now calling for Uju Anya’s firing, claiming her online posts violate the school’s standards. In a statement, they said Anya has a “longstanding record” of responding to “political opponents and critics” with “calls to violence.” The College Republicans further told TribLive that they were hoping that the university “ultimately makes the right decision.”CMU is reviewing the claims as Uju remains on a voluntary professional leave through the summer of 2027 and has not taught courses in this academic year. A university spokesperson told the outlet that they are taking “swift action in accordance with our processes.” Meanwhile, Anya’s X account is deactivated.Uju Anya’s posts that are facing scrutiny include a hateful and racist 2021 caption that read,“Die first, white man, then ask yourself why I’m dancing.”Another one from last week, marking the first death anniversary of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, has Anya inappropriately calling the day “Kirkmas” and “Kirkiversary.” She also used other derogatory words like “s**tbag” to refer to Kirk, while also taking shots at left-wing political commentator Hasan Piker’s selfie, which was shown at the Republican Midterm Convention on September 9.All you need to know about Uju AnyaUju Anya is a Nigerian-born language learning scholar with a special interest in Black experiences in multilingualism. She uses critical sociolinguistics, critical applied linguistics, and critical discourse studies to determine how gender, race, sexual, and social class identities “intersect” with language learning.Dr. Anya has a bachelor’s degree in Romance Languages from Dartmouth College and a master’s degree in Brazilian Studies from Brown University. She earned her doctorate in Applied Linguistics from UCLA.Her CMU bio states that her research explores:“The multilingual journeys of African American students and how these experiences inform identity formation in new language learning contexts.”Additionally, Uju Anya is an expert in DEI in instructional practices and curriculum design, alongside language study abroad, intercultural communication, applied linguistics as a practice of social justice, and service-learning in secondary and university-level language programs.Dr. Anya published her book, Racialized Identities in Second Language Learning: Speaking Blackness in Brazil, in 2017. It won her the 2019 First Book Award from the American Association for Applied Linguistics for her contribution to the field.Uju Anya also published another book as a co-editor called Racial Equity on College Campuses: Connecting Research to Practice in 2022.A couple of her career accolades include the 2015 USC Rossier School of Education Faculty Teaching and Mentoring Award and the 2020 Penn State College of Education Outstanding Teaching Award.Dr. Anya’s Instagram has been turned private ever since the controversy emerged. She uses the pronouns she/her and writes in her bio:“Audacious, professor, feminist, lesbian, maker of good trouble, mom, and Sirry’s wife.”Uju Anya is also associated with the program Afro MetaVerse.Other social media posts of Dr. Anya that are being flagged include a 2024 reaction to an attempt on Donald Trump’s life at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.“It was staged. Like a stupid Tubi movie set in the Bronx with palm trees in the background,” Anya wrote back then.In 2022, she also shared a controversial reaction to Queen Elizabeth’s death, writing on X:“I heard the chief monarch of a thieving, r*ping genocidal empire is finally dying. May her pain be excruciating.”Upon facing backlash, Uju Anya responded:“If anyone expects me to express anything but disdain for the monarch who supervised a government that sponsored the genocide that massacred and displaced half my family and the consequences of which those alive today are still trying to overcome, you can keep wishing upon a star.”At the time, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos called out Dr. Anya and pointed out that her tweets wouldn’t make the world “better.” She, in turn, slammed Bezos’ “merciless greed.” CMU distanced itself from their faculty member and called her messages “offensive and objectionable,” adding they didn’t align with the school’s “values.”Now, CMU President Farnam Jahanian and Provost and Chief Academic Officer James H. Garrett Jr. issued a joint statement about Uju Anya’s online behavior.“In her social media posts, Dr. Anya repeatedly and prominently invoked her connection to Carnegie Mellon and implied support from university colleagues, blurring the line between personal expression and academic authority… She used expletives, racial slurs and derogatory language that demeaned, dehumanized, and intimidated.”The officials added that Anya’s language violated university guidelines and distracted from the “seriousness and significance” of the university’s scholarship in humanities and social sciences.Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences Dean Cassidy Sugimoto and Interim Head of the Department of Languages, Cultures & Applied Linguistics also condemned Uju Anya’s posts, calling them “incredibly offensive” and in “direct violation” of the department’s policy on Community Responsibilities.Carnegie Mellon University is located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.