President Rodney Rogers has asked several members of his cabinet to look into the university’s social media policy in light of an incident this weekend.
On Saturday night, Travis Sheaffer, a technology projects coordinator in the College of Arts and Science and an adjunct (part-time) instructor in computer science, tweeted that U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) should be tried for treason and hanged. Sheaffer did this on his private account, which has since been deleted as has his Facebook account. He never said he was connected to BGSU.
In his remarks to faculty senate Rogers called the tweet “inappropriate, intolerant, vile” while acknowledging there were First Amendment and free speech concerns.
He’s asked the top administrators “to look into our social media policy to make sure we have clarity and are clearly articulating our policy on social media and free speech in a way in which we are emulating the kind of community that I hope we all aspire to have.”
Rogers thanked the faculty and students who have expressed their concerns about the incident to him.
