Florida university fires professor who said Sandy Hook shooting a hoax

BOCA RATON, Fla., Jan. 6 (UPI) -- Florida Atlantic University fired a professor who said the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that left 26 dead was a hoax and publicly argued with a victim's parents.

James Tracy, a tenured associate professor of communications at the school in South Florida, was fired for insubordination and circumvention of FAU policies. University officials said Tracy failed for three years to submit a required "Report of Outside Employment or Professional Activity Form." When he did submit one in mid-December, he did not list his personal blog, Memory Hole, and other associated blogs.

Tracy will be allowed to work until Friday. He was scheduled to teach three classes this semester and those classes have been assigned to other professors. Tracy was notified of his discipline Dec. 16.

"You publicly engage in external personal activity that requires your time and effort," school officials said. "It is for the administration to decide, with your input, if a conflict exists, and how to manage a conflict where necessary. You have repeatedly and willfully failed to provide the administration the information it needs to discharge its responsibilities."

Tracy, who has worked at FAU since 2002, said the federal government staged the December 2012 mass shooting in Sandy Hook, Conn., that left 20 children and six adults dead. He received national attention when Lenny and Veronique Pozner, whose son, Noah, died at Sandy Hook, told him to stop using their son's image. Tracy demanded the couple prove their son ever lived.

Tracy repeatedly wrote blog posts that included conspiracy theories about other national tragedies including the Boston Marathon bombings and the San Bernardino, Calif., attacks.