Dave Bangert

Journal & Courier

With Purdue University officials demanding an apology and hours before students planned to rally outside Hovde Hall to demand his firing for social media comments that pro-life groups took as rape threats, Jamie Newman left his job Monday morning.

“Yeah, I just quit,” Newman, an accompanist in Purdue’s Division of Dance, wrote in an email to the J&C. “Tell the world.”

Newman offered no other comment for publication. Purdue confirmed that Newman had submitted his resignation Monday, effective immediately.

“The university has accepted the resignation and believes this is the appropriate outcome,” said Julie Rosa, a Purdue spokeswoman.

The move followed a week of turmoil on campus, with students, parents and alumni pressing Purdue to sanction Newman for a series of social media posts on a national pro-life news site called LiveActionNews.org, run by a group known for undercover sting videos aimed at compromising Planned Parenthood.

Earlier this month, on a story about presidential campaigns and stances on rape and abortion, Newman wrote: “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.” He then offered the phone numbers for West Lafayette police and the local FBI office, closing with: “Drop that dime! I could strike at any minute.”

Those comments were tied back to frequent and critical comments Newman made on the Facebook page of Purdue Students for Life and that group’s “Hands Up, Don’t Abort” fliers put up around the Purdue Black Cultural Center at the start of Black History Month.

All along, Newman said allegations that he somehow threatened to rape Purdue students was a stretch and amounted to defamation of character. A Purdue University Police Department investigation, launched after students filed a report, found no criminal intent. And Purdue University, citing free speech policies, found no grounds to discipline or fire Newman.

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Still, on Friday, Purdue attorney Steve Schultz issued a blistering rebuke of Newman, saying that the only reason he still had his job was because of the university’s free speech policy.

“The disruption we’ve endured as a community is entirely due to Mr. Newman’s online posts,” Schultz said Friday evening. “Anything other than a full apology and explanation from him about the intent of his statement will be insufficient to cure the harm he’s done.”

Over the weekend, Newman stood his ground, replying to Schultz in a detailed letter that the claims against him were fabricated and calculated by pro-life groups. In it he added: “If anything, you owe me an apology – indeed, you should probably be begging my forgiveness – for facilitating the dissemination of fabricated and defamatory statements about me, and for failing to vehemently denounce the effort made of Students for Life to destroy my life and career.”

According to his letter to Schultz, Newman said he has been the target of threats of violence since late last week.

Rosa said Purdue police received a report of threats made to Newman to his Purdue email account. She said a Purdue investigator spoke with Newman over the weekend “to develop a safety plan.” She said Purdue and West Lafayette police were working together to investigate the complaint.

On Monday, Schultz declined to comment beyond the university's official statement.

Related: 3 things to know about Purdue’s free speech policy

Students for Life of America, the umbrella group over Purdue Students for Life, had been critical of Newman’s comments and the university’s reluctance to discipline or fire him for his social media posts. On Monday, the organization didn’t directly comment on Newman’s resignation, but addressed claims about threats made against him.

“This was a sad situation for all involved,” said Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America. “As a group who has experienced threats of violence ourselves, we condemn all threats of violence against anyone for any reason.”

On Monday afternoon, Purdue President Mitch Daniels defended the university for calling out Newman to apologize, but not going so far as to fire him. During a University Senate conversation about suggested changes to a free speech policy instituted in 2015, Daniels called Newman’s posts “the most explicit threat I’ve seen in my three years (at Purdue).”

“If we had not changed the policies, the speaker would have been fired summarily,” Daniels said. “Only because of the liberalization of that policy did that person get a chance to explain himself and persuaded the law enforcement people that he was just spouting off, that he really had no intent to do exactly what he said he wanted to do. Personally, I think that was a better outcome.”

Garen Bragg, a senior in the Purdue Polytechnic Institute, continued with a rally Monday afternoon outside Hovde Hall, home of Purdue’s top administration, including Daniels’ office. Early on, the rally drew about a dozen students, who chanted, “Rape is not a joke.”

“We feel we still have a point,” Bragg said. “We were disappointed with the speed with which Purdue said they were not going to discipline this individual. He was a staff member at Purdue, and what he said was inappropriate. We need to let Purdue know that.”

Mike Young, president of Purdue Student Government, said a resolution calling for an apology and sanctions against Newman was going to be up for consideration Wednesday. The resignation settled that, he said.

“My only disappointment,” Young said Monday, “is that I won't get to sign the PSG resolution asking him to be fired with a big, fat Sharpie.”

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