Part-time instructor at Fresno State University calls for death of Trump, Musk
A part-time instructor at Fresno State University called for the deaths of President Donald Trump and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) head Elon Musk.
"I have a dream for this to happen much sooner rather than later," part-time instructor Katherine Shurik posted on Instagram on Jan. 11, 2025.
The post included a photo of Trump in a casket with former president George W. Bush and former first lady Laura Bush, former president Bill Clinton and former first lady Hillary Clinton, former president Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama and first lady Melania Trump all looking on.
She included the hashtags, "#FelonTrump #TraitorTrump #RapistTrump #DieTrump #TrumpDead," in the Instagram post.
A video of Shurik posted Saturday on X by the account Oreo Express showed her saying that she would give extra credit to her students who attended a protest against Elon Musk and Tesla.
Saturday was the "Tesla Takedown's Global Day of Action," which included over 200 protests across the country. The website for the effort instructs people to "Sell your Teslas, dump your stock, join the picket lines. We're tanking Tesla's stock price to stop Musk. Stopping Musk will help save lives and protect our democracy."
Musk, the founder and CEO of Tesla, has struck the ire of Americans across the country for his auditing of programs and departments in the federal government for efficiency and eliminating redundancy.
Since January, multiple Tesla dealerships as well as Tesla vehicles have been vandalized by protesters.
In the X video posted by Oreo Express, Shurik says, "I'm Katherine Shurik, I am actually trying to get a NOW chapter, National Organization of Women off the ground here in Fresno, I'm an anthropologist and a professor at the university here."
She added, "I teach an activist anthropology course. I am trying to get my students involved as well. The next week they do get extra credit for coming to the protest."
On Facebook, Shurik shared a photo of a tombstone that had the words inscribed, "Donald J. Trump, June 14, 1946 to now would be good," according to a report from The San Joaquin Valley Sun.
Shurik added words to the post that read, "And take Musk and the rest of the Nazi (Republican) party members with you too!"
Another post shared on Instagram by Shurik says "Marked safe from watching a lying terrorist rapist, who wants to eliminate the Constitution swear to abide by the Constitution."
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Fresno State University said, "While Fresno State firmly believes in the principles of free speech, we strongly condemn the abhorrent social media posts and comments made by one of our part-time instructors."
The university added that, "As these views were published by the employee as a private citizen, they do not represent our University in any way. Fresno State firmly denounces wishes of death against any elected official, particularly the President of the United States – these go against our core educational values and are not consistent with our Principles of Community. As Americans and educators, we pride ourselves on democratic dialogue, not words of derision and contempt about the most important political figure of our country."
Fox News Digital also reached out to Shurik for comment, but did not immediately receive a response.
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