N.J. college suspends professor over ‘Game of Thrones’ shirt

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A Bergen Community College professor was placed on leave without pay after posting a picture of his daughter wearing a "Game of Thrones" T-shirt. Francis Schmidt, a professor of arts and animation, posted a picture on Google+ of his daughter doing yoga in a shirt reading, "I will take what is mine in fire and blood," the tagline for the new season of the HBO show.
Bergen Community College professor Francis Schmidt, who was suspended without pay for eight days after posting a photo of his daughter in a 'Game of Thrones' T-shirt.
School administrators took the word “fire” as a threatened school shooting, Schmidt said.
“When you see the word fire, then someone shows up with an AK-47 here shooting everybody,” an official told Schmidt of the perceived threat, the professor told the Bergen Record.
“I had no idea what to say to that. For God’s sake, I’m a middle-aged art professor,” Schmidt told the newspaper. “I don’t own any firearms.”

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Ongoing labor negotiations played a part in the punishment, Schmidt said. He had filed a grievance after being denied a sabbatical late last year, and he told the Record the suspension was “payback.”

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