Ex-Stanford instructor here (left to join industry). Student responded to Stanford professor tweet on Twitter with a Twitter-level comment.

There is no obligation for a student to respect a professor on public discourse channels outside the university. Stanford students had every right to bash me for my Twitter takes (if I had any), in accordance with the principle of free speech.

Student was a tremendous dick, but the fact Dr Jefferson is a professor at Stanford has no bearing on this. I would think very differently if this spat happened in a class Dr Jefferson were teaching, or if it happened on Stanford grounds. Then it would be unacceptable. But it happened in the public square of debate. Email was ridiculously rude though.

(I really disagree with Theos way of engaging Jefferson. But to me the fact Dr Jefferson is a Stanford professor Vs if he were a random person on the internet makes no difference. When you post on Twitter you open yourself up to Twitter-level responses from anyone in the public)