Texas State University lecturer no longer teaching after sending explicit messages online

TXST lecturer no longer teaching after comments

A Texas State lecturer is no longer teaching classes after chats show him sending explicit messages online. One of those messages said he hoped a woman would be deported.

SAN MARCOS, Texas - A Texas State lecturer is no longer teaching classes after online chats showed him sending explicit messages. 

In one of those messages, he says he hopes a woman gets deported. 

The backstory:

That lecturer has been identified as Bret Byron. Last week, the lecturer sent messages to Dr. Dhivya Srinivasa, a plastic surgeon who has practices in Los Angeles, as well as Austin. 

She has gained a large mass of followers across social media platforms for her political commentary as well as lifestyle videos. Srinivasa says she's no stranger to receiving aggressive comments online. 

"I have to admit I get a lot of messages, and I can tell you I don’t give them much thought whatsoever. I usually delete, block, and move on," Srinivasa said.

That was until Bret Byron contacted her on Facebook Messenger. Srinivasa posted the interaction on her Instagram, where Byron can be seen calling Dr. Srinivasa derogatory names as well as saying, "I hope Kristi Noem deports you." 

Unlike other negative messages she sometimes receives, the sender's profile had a name and picture. 

"When there’s a face to the name, Google is easy. You can just type in somebody’s name, and I was sort of shocked," she said.

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Dr. Srinivasa says search results revealed Byron was a lecturer at Texas State University. Once she had confirmed that with other people online, she contacted the university. 

"I updated my (Instagram) caption to say, 'Hey, Texas State University sounds like it might be one of your professors or your lecturers,'" Srinivasa said.

Texas State responded to the Instagram post just hours later, commenting that they were looking into the matter and appropriate action would be taken. 

Within 48 hours, Texas State commented again that Bret Byron was no longer teaching classes at the university. 

According to the Texas Tribune, Byron was a lecturer and program faculty member in the Department of Organization, Workforce, and Leadership Studies. His faculty member page has since been taken down from Texas State's website.

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For Dr. Srinivasa, she says it sadly comes as no surprise that this sort of behavior could come from an educator.

"What we have learned is that people with power, men, with power walk amongst us and to think that certain postings are above and beyond people who have these tendencies, we cannot be that naive," she said.

She now urges others who have the ability to speak out, to continue to do so. 

"If you have the position to speak out, I think more of us should be doing that, especially if we can be voices for those that can't speak up," Srinivasa said.

Texas State confirmed with FOX 7 that Bret Byron is no longer teaching classes. The university did not clarify if he was still employed with Texas State.