An admissions counselor at a prominent South Carolina university has been reassigned from her position as a result of an ill-advised social media posting where she expressed her opinion that Republicans are an “oppressive group,” raising questions of whether her bias would influence her decisions when reviewing college applications.
Clemson University undergraduate admissions counselor Monica Rozman likely didn’t expect such a reaction when she took to Snapchat to rant about those who don’t share her leftist political ideology, a post that caught the eye of the intrepid crew at Campus Reform, a conservative watchdog group that is dedicated to exposing “liberal bias and abuse on the nation’s college campuses,” according to its website.
According to Rozman, “Reviewing college apps and , just wanna say: no one cares if you’re Republican. Like, small government, low taxes, etc., republican. BUT BUT BUT, if you’re gonna talk about being Republican (1) don’t act like it’s an oppressed group bc it’s not and (2) unless you ACTIVELY DENOUNCE the white supremacy and misogyny, etc., within your party, you are going out of your way to identify with an oppressive group. Like? Don’t.”
(Image: Campus Reform)
Once the story was picked up by other media outlets, campus administrators flew into damage control mode over Rozman’s discriminatory post.
Joe Galbraith, Clemson’s associate vice president for strategic communications confirmed that she had been “reassigned” and that a human resources investigation was underway in a statement to Fox News Digital.
“Clemson evaluates every application based upon the academic merits of the individual and does not discriminate against or disadvantage any group of individuals – regardless of religion, race, gender, political affiliation or any other personal belief or identification,” Galbraith said.
He denied that Rozman made decisions regarding admissions.
“Admissions decisions are made by the leadership of the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, and the views expressed on the personal social media channel of this individual – who does not make admissions decisions – are not consistent with the admissions policies or practices of Clemson University,” Fox News reported.
In its report, Campus Reform quoted a Clemson student expressing his view that he was “shocked” by Rozman’s post.
“I was shocked to see one of our own admissions counselors speaking this type of rhetoric,” said junior Armani Gracia. “A party affiliation should not be a problem when applying to a university.”
“Potentially denying someone to be apart [sic] of this family because of what they support is unfair to the student who worked extremely hard in their academic career so far to attend a university of this caliber,” he said according to Campus Reform.
Despite Rozman’s blatant bias, Gracia said that he believes that the university’s admission process was fair and she should apologize.
“For the most part, I believe Clemson does have a fair admissions process as there are thousands of conservative students here on campus. However, rhetoric such as this from a [sic] academic counselor is deeply concerning and I hope she has a sincere apology for her comments,” Gracia noted.
Cherise Trump, the executive director of campus free speech advocacy group Speech First remarked, “Snapchat just confirmed what we already knew. Conservatives are in the minority on campuses. You know, they always have been,” according to Fox News.
Twitter users reacted to the disturbing news out of Clemson.
Using these labels in and of itself IS oppressive. Lying about what we stand for leads to us being attacked by the media and Big Tech. The ad hominem attacks exist to smear us. This admissions counselor has no idea what she’s talking about.
— Clemson College Republicans 🐅 (@ClemsonCRs) January 21, 2022
@ClemsonUniv how proud you must be having Monica Rozman and her divisive policies controlling your admittance. What an embarrassment to higher education, the ACC, and the state of South Carolina
— Michael Carter (@MCNoles26) January 21, 2022
https://twitter.com/Johnboy19541/status/1487214308027158534?s=20&t=mAXD-T7f68UUbN_NYeWbLg
“A Clemson University admissions counselor has been reassigned from her role after calling Republican applicants part of an “oppressive group” in a Snapchat story.” I’ve seen it all! And Clemson University! Unbelievable!
— Tim Rush (@demof16) January 28, 2022
https://twitter.com/ernaldobonitto/status/1487186614367440905?s=20&t=mAXD-T7f68UUbN_NYeWbLg
Whether Clemson will allow Rozman to return to her job remains to be seen but it is yet another example of the type of spiteful hostility and discrimination that conservative students are regularly subjected to on the campuses of the nation’s institutions of higher learning.
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