Following up on my previous posts:

• New York Times, Turmoil At University Of Florida Law School After Adjunct Professor Federal Judge Gives Book Award To White Nationalist Antisemitic Student For His Racist Paper
• Merritt McAlister (Interim Dean, Florida), Response To New York Times Article
• Joshua Kastenberg (New Mexico), Will Federal Judge Who Gave Award To Racist Paper As University Of Florida Adjunct Professor Need To Recuse Himself In Certain Future Cases?

NBC News, The Florida Law Student Who Wrote a Paper With White Nationalist Views Has Jewish Ancestry:

A University of Florida law student went viral online and became a campus pariah after classmates circulated two of his academic papers that argued in favor of white nationalist views — and amid the backlash he shared antisemitic messages on X.

But, as it turns out, the student has some Jewish ancestry.

Preston Damsky stoked outrage on campus — leading to at least two town halls during the spring semester — after penning an academic paper in the fall that argued that the Founding Fathers had conceived of the U.S. as white country and it should remain that way. Damsky questioned the constitutionality of certain amendments like those granting birthright citizenship and barring the government from denying anyone the right to vote based on race.

As students began circulating the paper and expressing outrage, Damsky shared scores of posts on X against Jewish people.

“Jews must be abolished by any means necessary,” he posted on X in March.

Damsky is the great-grandson of Jews who were labeled “Hebrew” by border control agents when they immigrated to the U.S. over a century ago. And he has grandparents buried in a Jewish cemetery in the Hollywood Hills. He said he is not Jewish and his ancestry isn’t relevant to his views. …

Damsky, in a telephone interview with NBC News, confirmed that he has Jewish ancestry on his father’s side.

“The positions I have taken don’t depend on who my paternal grandparents or great-grandparents were,” he said. “I never met my paternal grandfather. And I reject that who they were has any effect on my thinking as a matter of logic.” …

Damsky also said he was quoted correctly when he told The New York Times that it “would not be manifestly wrong” to refer to him as a Nazi.

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