Education

Purdue University Stands Behind Employee Who Allegedly Threatened Rape On Pro-Life Website

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A Purdue University employee who allegedly wrote that he would rape a woman — or possibly a group of women — in a kerfuffle over abortion earlier this month will face exactly zero consequences.

The taxpayer-funded employee is dance accompanist Jamie Newman.

Newman authored his statement after Purdue Students for Life, an anti-abortion group, had distributed “Hands Up, Don’t Abort” fliers and written chalk messages drawing attention to the high rate of abortions among minority groups in the United States.

Students who support abortion then demanded a public apology.

Purdue Students for Life did not apologize, but did post an explanatory message. Newman responded to this message very angrily:

Students for Life 1

At some later point, in a conversation on a comment thread on the pro-life website Live Action News, Newman allegedly ranted an admission that he had said he would rape someone’s “wife/daughter/great grandmother” — “free of charge.”

Students for Life 2

The full text of the comment reads: “Oh, I’m sorry. So, let me make my intentions quite explicit: I did in fact offer to rape Tom’s wife/daughter/great grandmother. Free of charge, even. I’m generous that way. Here’s the number for the West Lafayette Police Department: 765-775-5500. Here’s the number for the local FBI office: 765-435-5619. Drop that dime! I could strike at any minute. *giggles* (like a girl).”

It’s not clear who Tom is, or if Tom is a real person.

Another comment — from another commenter — in the thread read: “This from the guy who’s willing to rape the daughter, wife, sister or mother of a pro lifer. You’re sick.”

Comments from Newman — using the screenname “jamiegnewman” — have since been scrubbed from the thread, according to Campus Reform.

Jamiegnewman” remains a high-volume user on Disqus, the ubiquitous blog comment hosting service.

On Thursday, the Purdue University police department opened an investigation into the statements. By Thursday night, after interviewing Newman and unnamed other people, the campus police had closed the investigation.

The Purdue police “did not find sufficient evidence to take action,” university spokesman Brian Zink said in a statement obtained by The Lafayette Journal & Courier, the main local newspaper.

“As far as the university is concerned, the speech was repugnant and inconsistent with Purdue values,” Purdue’s statement also said. “We don’t condone it, but at this time no personnel action is intended.”

Newman also spoke to the local newspaper. The taxpayer-funded Purdue employee seemed to confirm that the comments were his, but that they had been taken out of context. He called the allegation that he threatened to rape anyone “false and defamatory” and “a complete fabrication.”

“As for the idea that I actually threatened to rape some random stranger’s wife and children — well, that’s also a complete fabrication, but one built on a fragment of a much longer conversation,” Newman said. “You could view the whole conversation over at liveactionnews.org, except they took down my side of it. Makes it so much easier to spin when all relevant context is removed.”

In a previous statement, Purdue officials had described “a threat of rape” as “outside the bounds of any definition of protected speech.”

Anna Held, a Purdue alumna and regional coordinator for Students for Life of America, believes Newman should be fired.

“They can’t have someone on the payroll at the university who is publicly talking about raping women,” Held told the Journal & Courier. “We’re asking that they remove him from his position.”

Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, said her organization takes Newman’s statements “very seriously.”

“This is intolerable behavior, period,” Hawkins said in statement. “Purdue must terminate their relationship with Mr. Newman now. For the past week, our students have been called ‘racists,’ ‘human garbage,’ and ‘ignorant c*nts.’ They have courageously stood their ground and have met with black students who were offended by their educational display to explain their event and ask for help for future events. But now the safety of our students has been put into risk. Purdue cannot let a staff member publicly call for the rape of their students no matter how unpopular their speech.”

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