College is full of wacky characters, and they aren't all students.
Delaware State University professor Cyril Broderick, who teaches agriculture, wrote a letter to a Liberian newspaper alleging the U.S. military and pharmaceutical companies created Ebola and are intentionally spreading the deadly disease in Africa.
Broderick's rambling letter is the most popular link on the newspaper's website.
In the letter, the academic cites numerous dubious sources, including a novel.
"The U. S., Canada, France, and the U. K. are all implicated in the detestable and devilish deeds that these Ebola tests are," writes Broderick in the letter The Washington Post calls 'semi-intelligible.'
Broderick, born in Liberia, which has been hit hard by Ebola, told The Post to "double-check the sources listed. They are available and legitimate."
The Post did so and says the cited sources "drew on research published in several conspiracy Web sites" and one was a book written by a man claiming to be a prophet.
The Post points out that misinformation about Ebola is one of the biggest problems facing medical workers trying to contain the disease.
As The Economist has reported, many in Africa refuse medical help because they believe exactly the kind of rumors the professor is spreading.
The university has no plans to stop Broderick from writing error-filled missives about a disease he has not studied.
"A lot of people can have tenure at a university and then they’ll go out and commit mass murder, okay," said a Delaware State University spokesperson. "We didn’t know that they would do that before they were granted tenure."
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