Will Texas State University fire a tenured professor based on a Nazi apologist’s doctored video?
Update: 2025-10-13
Description
“In Texas, a socialist professor is now in the fight of his life against MAGA’s New McCarthyism,” scholar and author Bill V. Mullen writes in Jacobin. “Tom Alter, a labor historian and tenured professor of history at Texas State University, was fired from his job on September 10 after a far-right troll doctored a videotape of Alter speaking at a virtual Revolutionary Socialism conference. After viewing the video, university president Kelly Damphousse fired Alter on September 10 with what Alter and his supporters say was no due process.” While Alter was provisionally reinstated on Sept. 26, he and his family remain in limbo as they wait for a final decision from Texas State University regarding his firing. In this urgent episode of Working People, we speak with Professor Alter himself about the sequence of events that have made his case a flashpoint in the MAGA right’s all-out assault on free speech, higher education, and the people who live, work, and study there.
Additional links/info:
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Additional links/info:
- Texas State Employees Union - CWA Local 6186: “Reinstate Dr. Tom Alter | Defend Free Speech”
- Bill V. Mullen, Jacobin, “MAGA McCarthyism comes to Texas State”
- Russell Payne, Salon, “Fox News “expert” says Hitler went to heaven”
- Full video of Professor Alter’s Revolutionary Socialism conference speech
- Edward Helmore, The Guardian, “US anti-fascism expert leaves country day after being blocked from flying to Spain”
- Jules Taylor, “Working People” Theme Song
- Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor
Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.
Follow us on:
Bluesky: @therealnews.com
Facebook: The Real News Network
Twitter: @TheRealNews
YouTube: @therealnews
Instagram: @therealnewsnetwork
Become a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!
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