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A Virginia Wesleyan University dean whose recent Facebook post called Biden voters “ignorant, anti-American and anti-Christian” has resigned, according to a statement posted Monday by the university on its website.
VWU’s statement was brief:
“Last week, Dr. Paul Ewell resigned as Dean of Virginia Wesleyan University Global Campus. Today, the University accepted his resignation as Professor of Management, Business and Economics.”
Ewell’s post, which also told all Biden supporters to “unfriend” him and accused them of corrupting not only the election but “our youth … our country,” was made on his private Facebook page. It went public after someone circulated a screenshot.
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Outrage over the post, already brewing at the small liberal arts and sciences university in Virginia Beach, boiled over after a story appeared Friday on The Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press websites. Comments left on VWU’s Facebook page exploded from 150 or so to more than a thousand, many from alumni, parents and students calling for Ewell to be fired.
On Sunday, President Donald Trump retweeted an Associated Press version of the story, adding his own comment: “Progress!” — an apparent approval of Ewell’s sentiments.
News outlets as far away as the United Kingdom have since picked up the story.
Ewell, a full-time instructor at the school since 2008 and director of its MBA program, has declined to speak to the newspaper about the issue. Stephanie Smaglo, university spokesperson, said last week that Ewell has apologized for the post, but she declined to comment further after Monday’s announcement.
But an email obtained by The Virginian-Pilot provides some insight.
Sent Monday by VWU President Scott Miller to the university’s board of trustees, the email says the school must “be a place that embraces open dialogue and celebrates individual difference and opinion. While we respect Dr. Ewell’s right to free speech, his comments, particularly coming from a Dean of the institution, contradict the values and culture that are such a valued part of who we are. … We must be led by individuals who cherish and nurture this.”
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VWU’s student newspaper, the Marlin Chronicle, published a story Sunday that said Ewell has tenure — a permanent employment status that can make it difficult for a professor to be fired.
According to the school paper, Ewell typed the incendiary Facebook post on Friday evening, Nov. 6, while the country was still holding its collective breath over election results. Ewell said he was upset, regrets the things he said and doesn’t really mean them.
“I have friends and family who are Democrats, and I love them dearly,” the Marlin Chronicle quotes Ewell. “I have apologized on both accounts profusely. I set a poor example in that post of what a Christian should be. I know that God has forgiven me and already died for my sins. I hope others will forgive me as well.”
Ewell added: “We all need to be a little less quick to anger and a little more willing to forgive, and that certainly applies to me. I am a Christian work-in-progress for sure.”
In the meantime, Trump’s retweet of the VWU story has been retweeted nearly 38,000 times and “liked” more than 170,000 times.
Staff reporter Ryan Murphy contributed to this story.
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Joanne Kimberlin, 757-446-2338, joanne.kimberlin@pilotonline.com