Prominent Trump Voter Claims Cyberbullying by Georgetown Professor

Asra Nomani, a Muslim woman who voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 general election and explained her decision in a Nov. 10 Washington Post opinion piece, claims that she has been subjected to online harassment by Georgetown University Associate Professor C. Christine Fair.

An advocate for liberal Islam, Nomani — who has taught journalism at Georgetown and is co-director of the Daniel Pearl Project — sent a Dec. 23 letter to the university’s School of Foreign Service, where Fair teaches: “I would like to pursue my Dec. 2, 2016, complaint, related to Professor Christine Fair’s harassment, abuse, hate and cyber-bullying against me on public forums.

“For my vote in the U.S. electoral process, Prof. Fair has leveled relentless abuse against me, including the accusation that I have ‘pimped’ myself out, a demeaning and sexist accusation that amounts to calling me a prostitute and slut-shaming me. She has written to me to ‘go f – – k off,’ and publicly stated: ‘So again Ms. Nomani ‘F – – K YOU. GO TO HELL.’ And she has called me a ‘wench’ and ‘chutiya,’ or the equivalent of a ‘f – cker’ in my native Urdu.

“As communicated to you earlier, she has leveled other abuse upon me, calling me a ‘fraud’ and ‘fame-mongering clown show,’ not to mention other smears.

“I believe that Georgetown University has grounds for holding Prof. Fair accountable for her uncivil discourse … I am seeking that Professor Fair receive training regarding how to engage in civil discourse in a way that is respectful and productive. I am also seeking that she stop harassing and abusing me. I am further seeking a public apology.”

Nomani’s 11-page letter includes the comments by Fair on her Twitter account, such as “Yes, @AsraNomani, I’ve written you off as a human being. Your vote helped normalize Nazis in D.C. What don’t you understand, you cluless [sic] dolt?”

Fair’s online media has gone private, but she remains outspoken about her opinions on Trump and says such comments are hers alone and do not violate Twitter rules or involve Georgetown University.

Responding to articles by the Daily Caller and the Daily Mail about the now-public spat between former colleagues, Fair wrote in a Dec. 28 email to the Daily Mail, which she posted on her Facebook page: “The article is very misleading in several respects. I will address them in turn.

“First, I tweeted several comments on 22 Nov. These did not involve foul language. These tweets identify several problems with someone normalizing a vote for the most outrageous president we have had. These tweets were based upon a Washington Post article and subsequent news appearances by Ms. Nomani. They were NOT based upon my personal knowledge of her private voting behavior. When Ms. Nomani wrote this article, she should have expected responses that were not all plaudits. Moreover, the combined word count of the 22 Nov tweets were far fewer than an op ed.

“I also drafted an open letter to her on Facebook after she complained to my employer in Dec. I therefore DID NOT have a 31-day tirade as the Daily Caller claims and as you continued to report. You have merely lifted this from the Daily Caller. ‘A professor at Georgetown University went into an unbelievable foul-mouthed meltdown that lasted 31 days after a Muslim ex-colleague said she voted for Donald Trump.’

“… My ‘foul mouthed’ responses to her were in a direct message in response to her direct message to me which was unwanted. I did not tell her to ‘f – – k off’ in our public exchanges. I made it very clear that I did not want to engage her. Her treacly DM was unwanted. Your article and the DC article implies that I went around for 31 days swearing at her. In fact, I went about those 31 days working, traveling and not caring about her or her tirades until she continued to harass my employer … I have a right to disagree with a public figure who has defended as bravery what others like myself find indefensible. This is the principle of freedom of speech.”

For her part, Fair is an expert on South Asia and has visited Pakistan, India and Afghanistan extensively. She has written books ranging from the deadly serious — “Fighting to the End: The Pakistan Army’s Way of War” — to the more fun and subversive — “Cuisines of the Axis of Evil and Other Irritating States: A Dinner Party Approach to International Relations.”

The former colleagues both speak Urdu. Nomani and her family immigrated to the United States from India. Fair began her academic work at the University of Chicago, Nomani at West Virginia University, where her father was a professor.

Georgetown University has not yet responded to The Georgetowner’s inquiry on this matter.