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Professor who tweeted ‘Trump must hang’ agrees to paid leave

Posted at 6:59 AM, Apr 20, 2017
and last updated 2017-04-20 09:00:12-04

FRESNO, Calif. — A California history professor who tweeted that “Trump must hang,” has agreed to take paid leave while Fresno State University reviews the matter.

Professor Lars Maischak is on voluntary leave from his post as a lecturer and researcher at the university, the school’s president said in a letter to students, staff and faculty Tuesday.

The February tweet — which later was the subject of a post on Breitbart .com — read: “To save American democracy, Trump must hang. The sooner and the higher, the better.”

The hashtags included #TheResistance and #DeathToFacism.

Maischak will not be teaching 19th-century US history, transnational history and political economy for the rest of the semester, Fresno State President Joseph Castro’s letter said.

Maischak could not immediately be reached for comment, but last week gave a statement reported by the Fresno Bee in which he offered an apology for the “tone and content” of his tweets.

“It was never my intention to harm anyone, nor to encourage others to harm anyone,” the statement said.

“With 28 followers on Twitter at the time, I never expected them to be read by anyone but a close circle of acquaintances who would know to place them in their context.”

The agreement for Maischak’s leave “was reached in accordance with provisions in the collective agreement with the California Faculty Association,” Castro’s letter said.

It added that “the university’s review of the important matter continues.”

CNN was told Wednesday that the university had no further statement on the issue at this time.