The death of a controversial professor at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, found in his home last week only days before he was set to receive a lucrative retirement settlement, has been ruled a suicide, according to a report by ABC News.
Mike Adams, a 55-year-old tenured criminology professor who recently came under fire for posting racial, homophobic and pandemic controversies to social media, shot himself, the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office announced Monday, closing the investigation.
»PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Controversial professor at NC university found dead in his home
Deputies found Adams’ body Thursday inside his home on Windsong Road in Wilmington, showing up there for a wellness check after receiving calls that he hadn’t been seen in several days. It was a little more than a week before he was set to retire with a $500,000 payout, according to a report by The News & Observer.
In one of his inflammatory social media statements in May, Adams used a racial epithet from the slavery era — referring to North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper as “Massa Cooper” — to express his frustrations with statewide coronavirus lockdown orders.
Reports said Adams was known for igniting several controversies at the university throughout his tenure for more than a decade, and after his latest comments, he was pressured into taking an early retirement Aug. 1.
Some of his social media posts showed him railing against Black people, women, Muslims and the LGBTQ community.
On May 28, Adams tweeted that amid the pandemic universities should shut down only “the non-essential majors. Like Women’s Studies.”
During the national unrest about George Floyd’s death, he called protesters, particularly Black Lives Matter demonstrators, “thugs looking for an opportunity to break the law with impunity.”
Voices on Twitter accused Adams of making similar statements in the classroom.
A student-led movement began on campus to remove Adams, followed by a change.org petition calling for his ouster, which gained more than 120,000 signatures.
Facing pressure from faculty, students, alumni and celebrities to fire Adams, UNC Wilmington Chancellor Jose Sartarelli chose instead to negotiate a $504,702.76 settlement, and Adams announced his retirement in June.
The payout, approved by the North Carolina attorney general and the UNC System Board of Governors, would have covered Adams’ lost salary and retirement benefits, according to The Observer.
On social media, many who knew Adams expressed fond memories and condolences.
“We are devastated to hear of the passing of @MikeSAdams. Professor Adams was a beloved freedom fighter and YAF speaker. Our prayers go out to his family,” tweeted Young America’s Foundation, a national conservative campus organization in which Adams served as a mentor and adviser, according to The Observer.
Other opinions about Adams were not as flattering.
UNCW Professor L.J. Randolph wrote on Twitter that people should mourn Adams’ death but “don’t sugarcoat his rhetoric as merely “controversial” or “racially charged,” The Observer reported. “He was blatantly racist, homophobic, and sexist, and his own words left no room for interpretation on any of that,” Randolph’s tweet read.
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