Wrong choice

Re “Virginia Wesleyan dean resigns after Biden Facebook post uproar” (Nov. 16): It was with a much sadness that I read of the resignation of Virginia Wesleyan University Dean Paul Ewell. Before people label me as another crazed President Donald Trump “deplorable,” please understand that I am one of the people who would have unfriended Ewell were I his friend on Facebook. What saddens me is that a tenured professor felt the need to resign because of his personal beliefs.

His Facebook post was insensitive and inflammatory, but these are his opinions printed on his private page. Do these opinions make him a bad teacher? Obviously not as he was tenured as a professor, a position that is earned through excellence in teaching and research. Why would someone feel the need to take his personal opinions from his private page and display them publicly? Shame on them. That cowardly action is reprehensible.

It’s unfortunate that Ewell chose to resign as opposed to see how Virginia Wesleyan University would have proceeded. “The most common reason tenured professors get fired is due to immoral or personal conduct such as engaging in abuse, sexual harassment, fraud or criminal activity,” according to ABC10’s paraphrasing of higher education researcher Michael Harris. Certainly, an objectionable Facebook post falls short of these egregious activities. A tenured professor will no longer be able to educate students as he had successfully been doing for 12 years because of his private personal beliefs. As much as I would no longer be Ewell’s friend on Facebook, he and the students deserve better.

Steve Wohlgemuth, Virginia Beach