Texas university lecturer seen on video harassing Christian evangelist placed on administrative leave
A University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) philosophy lecturer who was seen in a viral video harassing a Christian evangelist says he's been placed on administrative leave.
In a video shared on March 9, Charles Hermes, a UTA undergraduate advisor and senior lecturer of Philosophy, is seen shouting "No justice!" at a street preacher during a pro-abortion rally in Fort Worth. The street preacher is heard asking, "Do you believe in Jesus?" to several bystanders in the video.
At one point, Hermes stands in front of the unidentified preacher and says, "I do, I believe in Jesus," as he presses his head close to the evangelist. As the video zooms in, the preacher, Bible in hand, says to Hermes, "This is not your territory" and continues to preach to the crowd.
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A campus reporter enters the frame and asks the preacher, "Why are you here?" The preacher replies, "I am here because I was brought here. I am here because all the children that are dying. I am here because the blind and confusion that the devil has put everyone's heart, everyone's mind."
The rally appeared to be part of a March 8 event from the Tarrant County Democratic Party titled International Women's Day Unite and Resist held outside the county courthouse to "kick off Women's History Month by celebrating women's bodies and supporting autonomy."
That same day, Hermes signaled in a Facebook post he would be attending the event, calling it a "perfect day for the International Women's Day Marches. … Looking forward to Dallas's march."
Just one day prior, on March 7, Hermes announced the university placed him on administrative leave.
"I don't know what to do. After 18 years of teaching at UTA I have been placed on administrative leave. I'm shocked and speechless. I'm scared. I can't stop crying," he said. "So much of who I am comes from my love of our students. I guess I never thought this could happen. It's been such a hard semester, now this. I'm so scared and sad."
A UTA spokesperson told The Christian Post Tuesday that Hermes was placed on administrative leave March 8 but declined further comment.
Hermes' suspension follows several years of activism, including his arrest for criminal trespassing last May following his involvement in a pro-Palestinian rally.
Hermes has been arrested three times in the last year for civil disobedience charges, local media outlet KERA notes. A March 7 letter from the chair of the UTA Philosophy and Humanities department cited by the outlet names "numerous complaints" over his courses and teaching as justification to place Hermes on leave.
In 2018, Hermes was criticized for social media posts that appeared to condone harm to President Donald Trump during his first term in office. He later deleted the posts.
That same year, right-wing commentator Steven Crowder accused Hermes of calling Crowder an "alt-right Neo-Nazi," and alleged Crowder advocated for the "murder and extermination of Jews and LGBT people."
Hermes once reportedly spearheaded an online petition drive calling on the American Philosophical Association to prohibit schools that discriminate based on sexual orientation from posting open jobs with the organization's placement service.
He reportedly launched the campaign in response to a "statement of faith" required by a potential employer.
"To avoid offending those Christians who love their neighbors, and who leave the judging for God, I will hereafter refer to statements like these as statements of discrimination instead of statements of faith," Hermes reportedly wrote.
