The Purdue University staffer who allegedly threatened online to rape pro-life women handed in his resignation Monday after refusing to apologize for his comments.
Jamie Newman quit Monday morning amid outrage from students, the local community and pro-lifers across the nation, according to the Lafayette Journal & Courier.
“Yeah, I just quit,” Newman wrote in an email to the newspaper. “Tell the world.”
Purdue spokeswoman Julie Rosa said they accepted Newman’s resignation, which they believe is “the appropriate outcome” to the situation.
Last week, Students for Life of America reported discovering Newman’s violent comment while monitoring online discussions about its student pro-life club at Purdue.
According to Students for Life, Newman used his Disqus account “jamiegnewman” to post the following comment at LiveAction News:
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)
After the discovery, university officials announced that they were investigating Newman’s comments; but a short time later, they dropped the investigation, saying they had not found “sufficient evidence to take action” against him, LifeNews previously reported.
According to the local news report:
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.”
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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.
Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, told LifeNews on Monday: “This was a sad situation for all involved. As a group who has experienced threats of violence ourselves, we condemn all threats of violence against anyone for any reason.”
Purdue Student Government President Mike Young told the local news that the student governing body had planned to introduce a resolution calling for Newman to apologize and the university to take sanctions against him. Young said Newman’s resignation settled the issue.
A rally scheduled for today to protest sexual violence on campus will continue, according to the local news.
The situation began early in February after the Purdue Students for Life members put up posters around campus that focused on how the abortion industry targets black women and their unborn babies for abortions. In coordination with Black History Month, the campaign posters read “Hands Up, Don’t Abort” and “Black Children are an Endangered Race” and included the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter.
On Feb. 8, a small group of pro-abortion students and faculty held a sit-in protest during the pro-life club’s meeting and demanded an apology, LifeNews reported.
After the controversy arose, Newman allegedly posted two comments on Feb. 4 on the Purdue Students for Life’s Facebook page, according to screen shots by Students for Life:
You folks are vile, racist idiots, who richly deserve all the opprobrium that will be heaped on you as a result of this unbelievably thoughtless, stupid escapade. That you are seemingly incapable of appreciating the moral, legal, and social differ[ences]…
And that you should have pulled this stunt at the beginning of Black History Month suggests you are are either epically cluless or profoundly malicious. So which is is – embarrassingly dumb or simply evil?
Newman’s comments later were deleted, but Students for Life has screen shots of them on its blog. Students for Life said its staffers had been monitoring social media posts since the controversy began to ensure the safety of the students. Staffers said they were paying close attention to Newman after they noticed several nasty comments on Facebook.
Hawkins previously called for Newman’s termination of employment, saying his abusive behavior should not be tolerated.
“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,” Hawkins said.
In a statement, Students for Life added: “In our current time, Americans know that threats made online must be taken seriously. At Students for Life, we take this Mr. Newman’s words very seriously especially in light of the current controversy at Purdue, his previous posts, and the position of authority he has on the campus.”
Unbelievably, Newman, a dance accompanist and composer employed at the university, originally told the local news that he believes the attacks against him are defamation. He said his comments were taken out of context.
“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.”
However, The Blaze later uncovered several of the deleted comments in Newman’s online conversation that do not appear to make the threat any less serious. The comments were posted in an article on Live Action News that was not related to the Purdue controversy.
