Rutgers University has reportedly cut ties with a former spokesman for Syrian President Bashar Assad who once represented the dictatorial regime at the United Nations.

As previously reported by Campus Reform, Mazen Adi, who joined Rutgers as a part-time lecturer in 2015, has been widely criticized for his role in supporting Assad, even being labeled an “apologist for the Syrian regime’s genocide” by a human rights organization UN Watch.

"Part-time lecturer Mazen Adi is not currently employed at Rutgers and has not taught here since the summer of 2017."

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According to UN Watch, Adi “acted as an apologist for the mass murder committed by the Assad regime against his own people” and helped Syria “win impunity at the UN to conduct continued war crimes.”

While Adi was originally scheduled to teach several courses in 2018, Rutgers President Robert Barchi revealed late last month that the controversial lecturer is no longer employed by the school and has not taught a course for nearly three, The Algemeiner reported.

A university spokesperson subsequently confirmed to the publication that “part-time lecturer Mazen Adi is not currently employed at Rutgers and has not taught here since the summer of 2017.”

The school had previously defended its decision to hire Adi, touting the professor’s “expertise in international law and diplomacy, and other fields” as a justification to keep him on as part-time faculty.

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When The Algemeiner confronted Rutgers about Adi last year, the university defended the lecturer’s right to free political expression, and reiterated that the institution supports academic freedom.

“Rutgers will not defend the content of every opinion expressed by every member of our academic community, but the university will defend their rights to academic freedom to speak freely,” the school maintained at the time.

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