EAST LANSING -- Professor William Penn lost his teaching duties earlier this fall after being

But come next semester, the controversial instructor will be back in the classroom.

Penn, 64, will teach two classes when the new semester begins on Jan. 6, according to MSU spokesperson Kent Cassella. The 26-year veteran of the university's faculty was removed from the classroom on Sept. 5, just days after a video surfaced of his anti-GOP rant, and his several classes were reassigned to other instructors.

The secretly recorded video, publicized on a conservative college news website called campusreform.org , shows Penn lecturing during the first day of his IAH class on literature, cultures and identities. In the video, he tells students Republicans have a racist agenda aiming to suppress African American voters and that the GOP raped America.

"If you go to the Republican convention in Florida, you see all the old Republicans with dead skin cells washing off them," Penn says in the video. "They're cheap. They don't want to pay taxes because they have already raped this country and gotten everything out of it they possibly could.

"They don't want to pay for your tuition because who are you? Well, to me you're somebody."

The nine-minute video created national headlines, even appearing on

MSU professor William Penn.

Within days of the incident's publicity, MSU had removed Penn from the classroom. He has remained fully employed with the university, performing other aspects of his job, such as research and outreach, according to MSU spokesperson Jason Cody,

Penn's salary was $145,800 in the 2011-2012 school year, according to MSU budget information.

His rant, in part, prompted MSU to revisit classroom responsibilities for faculty and also how social media has impacted the classroom environment.

"Professor William Penn will be assigned to teach two small courses next semester in creative writing," Cassella said in a statement. "In the meantime, as part of MSU's commitment to create a learning environment characterized by mutual respect and civility, a faculty committee created by Academic Governance continues to review the responsibilities of faculty members and the impact of social media on teaching and learning.

"Their report is in early 2014."

Penn is an award-winning writer of fiction and non-fiction works, most of which focus on cultural identity. Having mixed Anglo and Native American heritage,

Penn received MSU's Distinguished Faculty Award in 2003. He also has twice won the prestigious Stephen Crane Prize for Fiction in 1977 and 1979, among other awards and recognitions.

In the video, he warns the 400-some students in his class that if they are "a closet racist, I'm coming after you." He also goes on to comment on failed presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his wife, Ann.

"Ann Romney a first lady?" Penn says in the video. "And remember this if you're just going to be a greedy bastard your whole life and just try to get things... In order to be rich like Mitt Romney and hide all your income offshore in the Cayman Islands, you have to be—think about this—Mitt Romney.

"Anybody here want to be Mitt Romney? Him? I mean, married to her?"

Penn could not be reached for comment. Watch the full, raw video of his diatribe against Republicans below.

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