University of Virginia professor forced to resign after comparing Black Lives Matter to the KKK on Facebook

A University of Virginia professor has taken a leave of absence from the school after he came under scathing attack over the weekend for likening the Black Lives Matter movement to the Ku Klux Klan.


Douglas Muir, who teaches at the school, commented on Facebook that he believed that Black Lives Matter was the 'biggest' racist organization since the KKK.


Muir, who lectures at UVA's Engineering School and who also owns a restaurant in the area, was responding to a Facebook post that included a photograph of a recent appearance by BLM co-founder Alicia Garza in Charlottesville, the campus newspaper Cavalier Daily reported.


'Black lives matter is the biggest rasist organisation [sic] since the clan [sic],' Muir commented on a post by local realtor Roger Voisinet.
'Are you kidding me. Disgusting!!!' he wrote.


Garza was speaking at an event in the nearby Paramount Theater. The headline of the evening was 'Rooting Out Injustice: Poverty, Race and the Role of Legal Aid.'



The fallout from Muir's comments compelled him to delete the comment. The university released statements indicating that it was distancing itself from the professor.



'A recent comment regarding the Black Lives Matter movement, posted on social media by Doug Muir, a lecturer in our school, has raised serious concerns about UVA Engineering's commitment to diversity, inclusion and support of populations that are traditionally underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics,' UVA's Engineering School said in a statement.