“Anti-PC” Liberal Studies Professor Michael Rectenwald Has Retired
Professor Michael Rectenwald has courted online and legal controversy for several years.
Michael Rectenwald, the Liberal Studies professor who made headlines for inviting Milo Yiannopoulos to his class and suing his colleagues and NYU for defamation, among other things, has retired after more than 10 years at the university, NYU Local has confirmed. Neither he nor the university have given a reason for his departure.
He sent Local the following statement:
Michael Rectenwald, Ph.D, formerly a Clinical Professor of Liberal Studies at New York University, is an official faculty retiree of the university. He is currently working on two books, already under contract, as well as pursuing speaking and media opportunities.
Christina Lau, Manager of Content and Publications with the Liberal Studies (LS) department, confirmed to Local that he had retired earlier this month.
As of Friday his bio on the LS website had been taken down and his NYU email prompted a response redirecting to an outside email address.
Rectenwald went on paid leave in September 2016 after he was revealed to be behind the controversial @antipcnyuprof Twitter account, though the university denied that was the reason for his departure.
He went on to name NYU and four fellow LS professors in a defamation lawsuit in January 2018 after they sent emails accusing him of behavior including sexism, bullying, drug use, abusing his position as chair of a hiring committee, and physical and sexual harassment. Rectenwald in turn claimed he had suffered personally and professionally as a result of the allegations, and held the university “vicariously liable” because they were sent from NYU email accounts.
In October he invited controversial far-right commentator Milo Yiannopoulos to speak in one of his classes. The appearance by Yiannopoulos—who was banned from Twitter for posting racist comments and has expressed a desire for journalists to be gunned down by vigilante squads, among other inflammatory views—was ultimately postponed due to safety concerns.
Rectenwald has been well-reviewed by many students in the past, one of whom described him to Local in 2016 as “probably my best teacher in Liberal Studies.”
NYU spokesman John Beckman did not immediately return requests for comment.
