Thomas Jefferson University President Mark Tykocinski has tendered his resignation, succumbing to pressure from student activists. The immediate trigger of the backlash was Tykocinski simply liking a few tweets.
Students wanted Tykocinski’s head on a platter for acknowledging views expressed by a vocal activist against gender transitioning for minors Chloe Cole, Covid-19 vaccine critic Alex Berenson, and Donald Trump Jr.
Despite just rounding up a year in command, Tykcinski tasted the bitter pill of cancel culture. The tweets that earned him students’ wrath opened up debates on today’s matters. Alex Berenson, for instance, spotlighted the potential pitfalls of hurried Covid-19 vaccines which he felt are not living up to their initial hype. Donald Trump Jr., on the other hand, drew attention to the troubling case of Chloe Cole, a young victim of what he described as medical maltreatment perpetuated in the name of gender affirmation.
Part of the involved tweets included a quote from Trump Jr., who passionately called for support for Cole’s legal battle against her former medical practitioners, whom he accused of misleading and coercing her into an irreversible procedure at the tender age of 13.
Joseph Cacchione, Jefferson’s CEO, offered criticism, expressing disappointment over the perceived misuse of Tykcinski’s Twitter account, albeit sans any direct reference to the tweets.
Various student bodies within the university penned a letter to the administration, underscoring their dissatisfaction with Tykocinski’s Twitter activities and insinuating a pervasive lack of inclusion and diversity within the institution’s fibers.
Troubled by student criticism, Tykocinski sought to quell the outrage through an apology, attributing his Twitter actions to his lack of mastering the platform. However, his olive branch failed to appease the students, who asserted his apologies fell short of repudiating supposed anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments.
The resignation of Tykocinski, in the light of these events, marks another victory for cancel culture, with an alarming implication that the freedom to express concern over hot-button issues may be diminishing in the academic sphere.
