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The following comes from the Family Research Council. To see the original post, click here. Cover image via GMU.edu. 

When George Mason University President Angel Cabrera said, “You belong at Mason,” he must not have meant conservatives. After the election, GMU tried to reassure people that the university was a place where everyone was welcome. “Today, more than ever, we must keep working hard to help students of all backgrounds learn and grow… We must reaffirm our commitment to embracing a multitude of people and ideas in everything that we do, to respecting differences, and to protecting the freedom of all members of our community to seek truth and express their views… This was our mission the day before the election and it remains our mission today.”

Unfortunately, that message of inclusion never got to Senior Admissions Officer Andrew Bunting, who took it upon himself to alienate about half of the campus — and prospective students — by declaring on his Facebook page that anyone who agrees with Donald Trump on a variety of issues is “a worthless piece of trash.” “For people who say, ‘don’t worry, it won’t be that bad’… this is what I, and so many others, are worried about.” He cites an article by the National Organization for Marriage that praises the president-elect, writing that their goal is to “‘Limit life. Limit freedom. Limit the pursuit of happiness for millions of American. If you agree with them that is your opinion. Just know that to the rest of us, you are a worthless piece of trash.”

So much for the Left’s call to respect the “dignity of every person!” How can a university — a publicly-funded university, no less — expect Bunting to be objective in his admissions decisions if he’s already declared half of the country unwelcome at GMU? That kind of exclusionary worldview has no place in a learning environment, particularly one funded by hard-working Americans. It’s one thing to disagree with a group of people — and quite another to openly berate them for it. If CEOs at Target, Angie’s List, and Starbucks want to insult conservatives, that’s their prerogative. Customers can choose to take their business elsewhere. But a school that enjoys government support should not be free to alienate half of the country.

And here’s the irony: if it’s natural marriage supporters Bunting is targeting, they’re more than half the country! According to the Wilson Perkins Allen polling from this month, 53 percent of Americans still define marriage as the union of a man and woman. The senior admissions officer is the one in the minority — not the nation that elected Donald Trump. Since Media Research Center broke the story, Bunting’s post has disappeared — but the senior admissions officer has not. University officials have yet to comment on the controversy, which would roil the founding father the school was named for. A fierce proponent of the power of the people (and a skeptic of bureaucrats), George Mason would have strongly denounced a public servant for commenting on an election from another section of government.

As the story picks up steam, pressure is building for GMU to act. Alumni, students, local taxpayers, and others have plastered the university’s phone number on social media, urging people to call in and complain. In a world where heroes like FRC’s Lt. General Jerry Boykin (U.S. Army-Ret.) can be fired from a private university for supporting something as reasonable as safety in public restrooms, surely real zealots like Bunting can be held accountable. One man’s “trash” is another man’s student! If you agree, contact the office of the president at 703-993-8700 or email pr*******@gm*.edu.