A police officer in the University of Virginia system was forced to resign after students claimed that he used his vehicle’s PA system to shout “Make America Great Again” on the evening of Donald Trump’s surprise victory over Hillary Clinton.
Student protesters demanded the removal of the officer from his post on the grounds that he abused his authority as a university officer. The incident allegedly occurred at 1:50 AM, as the result of the election became more apparent and students had begun to make their way back to their dorm rooms.
“I was disappointed to learn of reports that UPD personnel allegedly used the public address system in their vehicle inappropriately following the results of the election in the early morning hours on Wednesday,” UPD Police Chief Michael Gibson said in a Nov. 10 email response to concerns over the incident.
The University of Virginia hosted a candlelight vigil for students who were traumatized by the results of the election. “Last night, an individual who ran a campaign of racism, homophobia, xenophobia, islamophobia, and authoritarianism was elected president of our country,” the event’s Facebook page said. “We invite you, our community, to process this pain together and discuss future action.”
According to The Cavalier Daily, University of Virginia’s student newspaper, student protesters interrupted the Board of Visitors meeting on Nov. 11 to demand that the offending officer be fired.
Student protesters who interrupted the Board of Visitors meeting on Nov. 11 included firing the officers in their list of demands.
“We demand that they be fired, and we demand a re-evaluation of our tuition dollars going to the University Police Department,” one protester said.
The investigation concluded that only one of the three officers abused the PA system.
“We believe any reasonable person would conclude that the inappropriate use of the PA system undermines the [University Police] Department’s goals and objectives and is detrimental to the department’s operation and the efficiency of the department,” a joint statement from Pat Hogan, University executive vice president and chief operating officer, and University Chief of Police Michael Gibson read.
Tom Ciccotta is a libertarian who writes about Free Speech and Intellectual Diversity for Breitbart. You can follow him on Twitter @tciccotta or email him at tciccotta@breitbart.com
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