Lisa Duggan of New York University Abusive Professor at the Center of Controversy New York New York

New York University Professor Lisa Duggan is President-Elect of the American Studies Association.

Through her aggressive promotions -- on Twitter and elsewhere -- of a boycott of a foreign country, as well as through other means, Professor Lisa Duggan has made herself a public figure.

Concerned that her ill-considered opinions could be endangering the human and civil rights and well-being of LGBTers throughout the Middle East, I sent her an e-mail saying so.

Professor Lisa Duggan then responded with tricked out language suggesting that she thinks I am "a hack or an idiot."

After reflecting on the relevant themes, I decided I wanted to write an article about Professor Lisa Duggan for a  journal to which I contribute regularly.

I e-mailed Professor Lisa Duggan a number of serious-minded questions.

And, I cc'd her in an e-mail to my editor-in-chief. For his reference, I copied Professor Lisa Duggan's e-mail to me below my signature in that e-mail.

Professor Lisa Duggan then went ballistic in a series of e-mails, forbidding me to publish any part of her e-mail in which, through tricked out language, she suggested that she thinks I am "a hack or an idiot."

There is a strong appearance that while Professor Lisa Duggan felt free to send out an abusive e-mail reflecting poorly on New York University, once she realized that she could be held publicly accountable for sending out abusive e-mails, she felt entitled to attempt to intimidate the recipient(s) of her abuse out of reporting it to the public.

New York University Professor Lisa Duggan's abusive behavior is inappropriate, and beneath the inherent dignity of an institution of higher learning.