Dr Uju Anya under investigation by US varsity over controversial post

Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, United States, says it has begun reviewing recent social media posts attributed to Nigerian-born academic Dr Uju Anya, describing the remarks as “hostile and threatening” amid mounting backlash online, according to Vanguard.

Anya, an associate professor of second-language acquisition in the university’s Department of Languages, Cultures and Applied Linguistics, is currently on voluntary professional leave and not teaching on campus this academic year.

The controversy escalated after an X user shared a resurfaced 2021 exchange in which Anya, reacting to a question about celebrating white people’s deaths, wrote, “Die first, white man, then ask yourself why I’m dancing.”

In a statement on X, Carnegie Mellon said it was “deeply concerned” by the posts and clarified they did not represent the university’s position. Anya’s account has since become inaccessible.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk also weighed in, amplifying identification of Anya as a CMU staff member. Anya had not publicly responded as of press time.

She previously drew backlash in 2022 for a post about Queen Elizabeth II’s death, which she linked to Britain’s role in the Nigerian Civil War.