Rutgers campus

The main entrance to Rutgers University's Old Queens administration building in New Brunswick. (NJ Advance Media file photo)

(Nj.com file photo)

NEW BRUNSWICK -- A Rutgers University professor who was given a psychological exam after posting statements about gun control and flag burning on his Twitter account has been placed on administrative leave and is no longer teaching, campus officials said Friday.

Kevin Allred, an adjunct part-time lecturer on Rutgers' New Brunswick campus, made international headlines Wednesday after police came to his Brooklyn home and took him to Bellevue Hospital for a psychological exam.

Allred, who had posted dozens of comments on his Twitter account after Donald Trump's presidential win, was told Rutgers officials called police after someone at the university reported him for comments about flag burning and gun control that allegedly threatened white people.

Allred said he was not arrested and quickly passed the psychiatric exam. He said he returned to campus Wednesday to teach his classes.

Rutgers officials released a statement Friday saying Allred was no longer teaching.

"We will not comment on the specifics of an individual personnel matter. As a general rule, however, when the university is presented with allegations of threats to public safety, we take those allegations very seriously and have an obligation to investigate. Mr. Allred has been placed on administrative leave and will therefore not be teaching," said Rutgers spokesman E.J. Miranda.

He will continue to be paid while on administrative leave, Miranda said.

Allred did not immediately return messages to comment. He teaches women's and gender studies classes and the popular course "Politicizing Beyonce".

The adjunct professor tweeted that he has received an avalanche of hateful comments, including death threats, after he went public earlier this week about undergoing a psychological exam after posting a series of anti-Trump tweets.

He has responded to some of the threats via his Twitter account.

"Get it out. live your life. be terrible people. direct it at me. and then SHUT THE (expletive) UP," Allred posted on Twitter.

He also responded to comments from critics who said they were working to get him fired from his teaching job at Rutgers.

Allred is a part-time lecturer, not a tenured professor, he said. So, he works on semester-to-semester contracts.

"I essentially work each semester from the position of being fired. i never had job security. so i'm good. i got this," Allred tweeted.

In other tweets, Allred said he had been awake for 36 straight hours. He also posted music he said was inspiring him, including the Dixie Chick's "Not Ready to Make Nice" and Peter Gabriel's "Don't Give Up."

University officials said earlier this week they contacted New York police after a student filed a complaint about Allred. But they did not provide any further details.

"The Rutgers University Police Department responded to a complaint from a student and took all appropriate action. We have no further comment," said Miranda, the university's spokesman.

New York police said in a statement that Rutgers police told them Allred had threatened to kill white people.

Allred said Twitter suspended his account Wednesday until he removed a tweet that questioned the Second Amendment in the wake of Trump's win.

The tweet posted the day after Trump's victory allegedly said: "Will the 2nd amendment be as cool when I buy a gun and start shooting at random white people or no ...?," according to screen shots published by other news organizations of Allred's Twitter account that appear to be taken before he removed the post.

Allred, who is white, said in another post that the tweet was not meant to be a threat. "It was a hyperbolic question posed to show a double standard," he tweeted.

YES, my 2nd amendment tweet was incendiary but completely w/in free speech. ZERO direct threat involved. posed as a rhetorical question. — Kevin Allred (@KevinAllred) November 16, 2016

Last year, Allred briefly clashed with Rutgers officials when the "Politicizing Beyonce" he had been teaching since 2010 was left off the spring 2016 schedule in the women's and gender studies department without explanation.

The dropping of the class attracted national attention after an internet backlash in support of the Beyonce course, which explores the pop star's music and career in the context of American race, gender and political issues. Allred's class was eventually moved to Rutgers' American studies department, where it is on the schedule this semester.

Allred -- who describes himself as a "feminist author" and "shameless outlaw of academia" -- has been working on turning the "Politicizing Beyonce" class into a book, according to his website.

Kelly Heyboer may be reached at kheyboer@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @KellyHeyboer. Find her at KellyHeyboerReporter on Facebook.