Students at Catholic University of America demanded a dean’s resignation after he tweeted from a school account to cast doubt on Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s accusers.
A group of students, faculty members and other school affiliates urged the resignation of National Catholic School of Social Service Dean Will Rainford, who posted tweets from his official Twitter account questioning the women accusing Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct. Garvey suggested in one of the tweets that Christine Blasey Ford was not a victim of sexual assault. (RELATED: Three Witnesses Interviewed By FBI In Kavanaugh Probe Don’t Remember The Party In Ford’s Testimony)
“My tweet suggested that she was not a victim of sexual assault. I offer no excuse. It was impulsive and thoughtless and I apologize,” Rainford said in an open letter to the university.
One of the tweets — according to a screenshot — also said Julie Swetnick, who alleged that she witnessed Kavanaugh at a party where girls were drugged and gang-raped, would be considered the “perp” “in another universe” because of the age difference.
This deleted tweet by Will Rainford, DEAN of @CatholicUniv’s National Catholic School of Social Service is SHAMEFUL. With the Catholic Church’s responsibility to survivors of sexual violence, I pray my alma mater takes appropriate action. This is DISGUSTING… (1/2) pic.twitter.com/TN8kV4hJTE
— Katrina Avila (@KatrinaMarie8) September 27, 2018
University president John Garvey announced Friday that Rainford would be suspended for the remainder of the semester in light of the tweets, but protesters were not satisfied with a suspension.
“The Catholic University of America has no position on the Kavanaugh matter. But let there be no doubt that our University, and particularly our National Catholic School of Social Service, has a special concern for every victim and survivor of sexual assault,” the president’s statement read.
“Rainford’s tweets of the past week are unacceptable.”
A group of about 100 protesters demonstrated outside of the university’s student center Monday, then marched to Garvey’s office with a letter demanding Rainford’s resignation, according to Crux Now.
Marie Raber, the assistant dean standing in for Rainford for the rest of the semester, met with the protesters and apologized to any of them who had relived past traumas related to sexual assault as a result of the controversy.
The Twitter account from which Rainford made the tweet has been deleted. Garvey also said that, while the university was concerned about what it saw as the insensitivity of Rainford’s tweets, he hoped Rainford would “continue to lead the school.”
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