GMU students want Kavanaugh fired
Mason for Survivors, a student group at George Mason University, is planning to pressure the school to fire Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh from his new gig as a visiting law professor, with one student even suggesting that the justice’s hiring “threatens the mental well-being” of some students.
A GMU spokeswoman told Campus Reform April 2 that Kavanaugh will teach alongside Professor Jennifer Mascott as a Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Antonin Scalia School of Law. Mascott and Kavanaugh will teach a two-credit course in the United Kingdom, titled, “Creation of the Constitution,” which will run from July 22-Aug.2.
Mason for Survivors announced its intention to protest Kavanaugh’s new role Wednesday during the Board of Visitors public comment section. “Join us as we show out for our students and survivors,” the group said in a tweet, and ending its message with “#cancelkavanaugh.”
THIS WEDNESDAY! Join us as we show out for our students and survivors! These are opportunities for students to show up + put pressure on Cabrera and the administration to address student concerns regarding the Kavanaugh hiring + Title IX resources on campus. ??#cancelkavanaugh pic.twitter.com/ZQlZboAiei
— Mason For Survivors GMU (@Mason4Survivors) March 29, 2019
At a recent GMU meeting, one student was even recorded as saying, “the hiring of Kavanaugh threatens the mental well-being of all survivors on this campus,” as The College Fix and other outlets reported.
GMU Student Power, a social justice-themed group at the school, shared Mason for Survivors’ tweet. But the two groups are not the only ones demanding the Supreme Court justice’s termination as a visiting professor of a summer English course on the U.S. Constitution.
”We strongly rebuke the decision made by the University to hire Justice Kavanaugh in the wake of the serious allegations of sexual assault made against him last year,” the George Mason Democrats wrote in a late March Facebook post. “We urge the University to immediately revoke this decision.”
A petition urging the school to fire Kavanaugh and issue “a formal apology from administration to survivors” has garnered more than 2,000 signatures at the time of publication. GMU President Angel Cabrera responded to the backlash in a Wednesday news release.
”I respect the views of people who disagreed with Justice Kavanaugh’s Senate confirmation due to questions raised about his sexual conduct in high school. But he was confirmed and is now a sitting Justice,” the president said. “This decision, controversial as it may be, in no way affects the university’s ongoing efforts to eradicate sexual violence from our campuses.”
Cabrera noted that GMU law school faculty approved Kavanaugh’s appointment as a visiting professor and that the justice’s elective course is “at this time...oversubscribed.”
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