VIDEO: Students say teaching assistant stole pro-life poster

Pro-life students at the University of Florida continue to endure vandalism of their promotional materials, and allege that the latest perpetrator is a teaching assistant at the school.

According to a video of the incident obtained by Campus Reform, an alleged graduate student and teaching assistant in the Department of History, Rachel Laue, can be seen storming away with a sign from a Young American’s for Freedom (YAF) pro-life demonstration. 

[RELATED: Charges filed against student who vandalized pro-life display]

The sign contained a controversial quote from Margaret Sanger wherein she allegedly refers to African Americans as “defective,” according to the student filming, though the teaching assistant calls the claim “bullsh*t” as she attempts to escape.

“It’s not a quote and that’s bullsh*t. Blah, blah, blah; you’re defective,” she can be heard saying as the student recording attempts to explain his positions. “It’s fake news. I’m sorry; maybe I misunderstood that this is, you know, not supposed to come down, but it’s fake.”

“It’s fake! It’s fake! It’s fake,” she began shouting, running away from the recording before later stopping and swiping at the student for his phone.

“Give me that f***king phone,” she exclaimed. “What are you going to do with this? You can’t record me.”

The two continued to debate the legitimacy of Sanger’s claim for several minutes as the teaching assistant eventually apologized for tearing down the sign, though she continued to insist that its content was “fake.”

Eventually, another professor confronted the two, prompting the teaching assistant to claim that she tore down the poster “by accident.”

[RELATED: Vandals repeatedly strike pro-life messages at UF]

According to several screenshots obtained by Campus Reform of a private Facebook page where the video was posted, some students claim to recognize the woman in the video as a “TA and PhD candidate.”

One student, for instance, asserted that she “works for a program called ‘Talk Science With Me’ where people go to places around Gainesville to discuss anything and everything with people,” then pointed out the irony that “she can’t even seem to have a dignified conversation with a student.”

Another student speculated that the woman in the video is “Rachel Laue,” who is listed as a graduate student in the Department of History. 

 

Campus Reform reached out to Laue for comment on the matter, but did not receive a response in time for publication.

A spokesperson for the University of Florida told Campus Reform that the school is aware of the incident, but could not confirm that the perpetrator is a teaching assistant as of press time.

UPDATE: The university has since claimed that the woman pictured in the video is not Laue, but has yet to provide the woman's identity. 

Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @AGockowski