George Mason students call on university to bar Kavanaugh from teaching summer course

George Mason University students are calling on the school to stop Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh from teaching a summer course at the university this year.

According to The Washington Post, some students at the school’s main campus in Fairfax City want Kavanaugh be blocked from teaching a class to students at the university’s Antonin Scalia Law School, as scheduled this summer, because of allegations of sexual misconduct brought against him last year.

The overseas course would reportedly take place in England. The school’s undergraduate population also consists of roughly 25,000 students, while the university’s law school enrolls about 525 students.

Since news of Kavanaugh’s hire was announced last month, student protesters have reportedly been marching across the school’s campus, chanting phrases like, “Kick Kavanaugh off campus!”

Kick Kavanaugh Off Campus! pic.twitter.com/a98p4c0SeF

— Mason For Survivors GMU (@Mason4Survivors) April 4, 2019

In other footage surfacing online, students at the university can be seen objecting to the hiring decision in a meeting with the school’s Board of Visitors last week. 

“As a survivor of sexual assault, this decision has really impacted me negatively,” one student said of the hiring move in a short clip of the Wednesday meeting. “It has affected my mental health knowing that an abuser will be part of our faculty.”

A petition has also emerged in recent weeks calling on the school’s administrators to not only bar Kavanaugh from teaching the summer course but also issue an apology to sexual assault survivors over the move.

The petition, which was created two weeks ago by a group called “Mason 4 Survivors,” also provides links to separate forms for alumni and parents to pledge to no longer donate money to the university so long as Kavanaugh holds a teaching job there.

According to the Post, the petition, which has gathered almost 3,500 signatures, has already earned the endorsement of George Mason Democrats, an on-campus political group.

George Mason’s president, Ángel Cabrera, defended the school’s decision to hire Kavanaugh in a statement last month. 

“I respect the views of people who disagreed with Justice Kavanaugh’s Senate confirmation due to questions raised about his sexual conduct in high school,” Cabrera said.

“But he was confirmed and is now a sitting Justice,” Cabrera continued. “The law school has determined that the involvement of a U.S. Supreme Court Justice contributes to making our law program uniquely valuable for our students. And I accept their judgment.”