There was varied reaction to the article, with some people calling for his firing, criticizing the university and some calling for deportation or death on social media. A university spokesman, Lawrence G. Hincker, Associate Vice President for University Relations, said that the university supported Salaita's freedom of speech, but added: "While our assistant professor may have a megaphone on salon.com, his opinions not only do not reflect institutional position, we are confident they do not remotely reflect the collective opinion of the greater university community". Almost 40 Virginia Tech professors signed a letter protested Hincker's comments in a letter to the student newspaper, the Collegiate Times, faculty members criticized the university's statement as "wholly unsatisfactory" and "placing in doubt its commitment to academic freedom."[23]