Greek advisor removed after election tweets

Monica Kast

The coordinator of Greek Affairs has been removed from her position after a post she made following the presidential election last week was shared around the university community, according to student activities administrators.

In a tweet, Alexandria Kennedy, student activities coordinator and former adviser for Greek organizations, used explicit language and referred to Trump voters as “racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic.”

Kennedy was contacted for comment but did not respond in time for publication.

Charley Pride, director of student activities, confirmed that Kennedy still worked for student activities but was no longer an adviser for Greek organizations.

After protests on campus last week, President Gary Ransdell released a statement calling for unity and respect across campus. The statement was also posted to Ransdell’s Facebook page.

While most comments on the Facebook page were positive, others commented on the post with screenshots of Kennedy’s tweet, and accused Ransdell of discriminating against white people.

“Hey Gary why don’t you just come out and say that you don’t think white people work for what they have and that you’d like to see less of them,” Chris Carmichael, who identified himself as a WKU alumni in an email to Kennedy obtained by the Herald, wrote on Facebook.

Later, Carmichael said his statement was an “observation based on the views of the employees of WKU to which [Ransdell] is a sponsor.” He also commented, “Gary ‘Death threats against white students are fine. Triggering a minority is expulsion’ Ransdell.”

Carmichael also sent Kennedy an email, which was obtained by the Herald, saying that he was “shaking in anger,” and “sick” because of Kennedy’s comments.

Beth Kelley posted a screenshot of Kennedy’s tweet, calling Kennedy’s language “unacceptable especially with the position that she currently holds. She does not speak for all students.” In response to Kelley, Amy Bishop wrote that she was “happy,” and thought the post would “begin dialogue.”

Kelley responded by writing that Kennedy had “stooped to Trumps [sic] level of social media posts/rants” and “not getting any message across by name calling.”

After Kennedy’s tweet, she posted on Facebook later that night, saying that she was “literally SHAKING from fear.”

“I’m so disappointed right now,” Kennedy wrote on election night. “I cannot cry enough tears. I cannot pray enough. I can only hope and I can only make sure that I’m there fore [sic] those who are more scared than I am.”

According to Corie Martin, director of web services and digital marketing at WKU, there is no official social media policy in place for faculty and staff. There is a Communications and Branding Manual, which “serves as a guide to faculty and staff departments and offices of how to use social media…specifically for official WKU-sponsored social media and web-based accounts,” Martin said.

“It is not a mandate, but more of a best practices set of guidelines,” Martin said in an email. “The one that is public on the WKU Marketing and Communications website right now is 6-years-old, and very outdated. We have a new version that has been updated significantly that will soon go before the WKU Administrative Council for approval as formal policy.”

However, Martin said that there is no official policy for social media use by WKU faculty and staff.

Reporter Monica Kast can be reached at 270-745-6011 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @monicakastwku.