DISPATCHES FROM THE EDUCATION APOCALYPSE: Hofstra professor facing possible termination over discrimination claim for saying ‘word salad.’
A Hofstra University political science professor has been trapped in a nearly one-year investigatory nightmare after a colleague reported him for racial discrimination for using the phrase “word salad.”
Professor Richard Himelfarb made the remark at a Nov. 3, 2025 faculty meeting about proposed new courses at the private Long Island University.
Santiago Slabodsky, the chair of the school’s Jewish Studies program, sparked an outcry when he proposed two courses — one on conspiracy theories and another tying religion to “revolutionary movements in Latin America” be taught in his department, Himelfarb told The Post.
When five professors objected, Slabodsky allegedly launched into a meandering diatribe where he waxed poetic about his professional accomplishments but didn’t address the professor’s concerns, Himmelfarb said.
After the rant, Himelfarb called out his colleague, saying, “That is complete word salad; I don’t understand a thing Professor Slabodsky said.”
The next day, Slabodsky — who was born in Argentina — filed a complaint against Himelfarb alleging that the use of the term “word salad” disparaged his accent and South American heritage.
“University politics are so vicious precisely because the stakes are so small,” as Henry Kissinger was attributed as saying (along with many others).
Every 6 months or so all of academia takes a break from their important scholarship in order to remind us that each and every single hillbilly luddite stereotype about higher education being a cocoon of berserk shrieking Stalinist savages is 100% correct.
— Jarvis (@jarvis_best) August 20, 2026