Dean resigns after Facebook post calls Biden voters ‘anti-American’
A dean at Virginia Wesleyan University has resigned after receiving criticism for a private Facebook post insulting Joe Biden supporters by calling them “ignorant” and “anti-American.”
Paul Ewell asked any of his friends who supported President-elect Biden to “unfriend” him, according to a report by The Virginian-Pilot. Ewell, a business professor and dean of the university’s Global campus, referred to those who supported the candidate as “ignorant, anti-American and anti-Christian.”
The post has since been deleted.
“I really don’t want to be your social friend on social media,” he said in the post. “I wouldn’t hang out with you in real life, I don’t want to hang out with you virtually either. You have corrupted the election. You have corrupted our youth. You have corrupted our country.”
According to a post by WAVY News reporter Kayla Gaskins, Ewell resigned Monday after the negative response to the post.
A VWU graduate student said the comments were “very disappointing.”
“College is a place where open minds and different points of view are supposed to be encouraged,” she said. “This is the opposite of that. It’s flat-out name-calling by someone in a position of authority.”
Ewell didn’t give a comment about his post, but alumni had previously threatened to withhold donations. Some parents also said they were reconsidering enrolling their kids.
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Stephanie has been telling stories her whole life. Her interest in the written word started with short stories and journal entries about run-ins with classroom bullies as a child and matured to writing for her high school newspaper over the years. She has written and edited for The Tennessean, Augusta Chronicle and American City & County.
