Following an emotional response by the Longwood College Republicans via Facebook to unconfirmed claims of a counter-protest, Republicans from the surrounding community allegedly rebuked the college group.
On Feb. 4, The Farmville Herald’s article originally stated, “The Longwood University College Republicans have said they plan to hold a counter-protest.”
According to Longwood College Republicans President Megan Garrett, no such protest was planned and the College Republicans weren’t contacted for confirmation.
“On Saturday morning, we began getting calls from people around the town and people around the campus suggesting that we had decided to do a counter-protest and I had no idea where they got the information from,” said Garrett. “We definitely didn’t plan a counter-protest, and I issued a statement on our Facebook page saying that we hadn’t. Shortly after that I was sent the article.”
The College Republicans’ Feb. 4 Facebook statement attempted to address the rumors. It began, “As an organization, Longwood's College Republicans did not take part in the protests held in response to the peaceful protest organized by other organizations on campus against President Trump's actions.”
The incorrect sentence was removed shortly after Garrett contacted The Farmville Herald by comment and email, and The Farmville Herald has since apologized to Garrett and is sending a letter of apology to the entire College Republicans organization.
“All of the College Republicans support the statement on our Facebook page, and I’ve gotten a lot of support from people who were at the protest,” Garrett said. “The Longwood community has been very supportive.”
College Republicans Public Relations Chair Andi Tureson said, “An apology is enough.”
The initial statement issued by the College Republicans, which is still available on their Facebook page, received negative attention from some local Republicans.
Members of the Cumberland County Republican Committee took offense to an error in the Facebook post regarding the Republican party’s platform.
The post originally stated, “The wall and many other of President Trump's ideas are not platforms of the Republican Party, therefore, we have not and will not take any stances for or against these as an organization.”
According to the Republican Platform 2016, the party stated it “... support(s) building a wall along our southern border and protecting all ports of entry. The border wall must cover the entirety of the southern border.” The platform has included support for a wall along the US-Mexico border since July 2016.
“Well, my family and I saw the protest (on Feb. 4),” said Cumberland County Republican Committee Chairman Diana Shores. “We feel very strongly about the national security issues facing our nation, so we decided to go to the courthouse and offer a counter voice.”
Shores and her family participated in a counter-protest on Sunday, Feb. 5, supporting some of Trump’s initiatives in the courtyard of the Prince Edward County courthouse. The initial Feb. 4 Anti-Immigration Ban protest took place in the same courtyard. The College Republicans didn’t participate in the Feb. 5 protest.
Shores addressed the post and said, “After seeing the original post made (by) the College Republicans, I wanted to correct the incorrect information about the party platform.”
In Shore’s Facebook comment on Feb. 5, she said, “If you cannot support the party platform then it's perfectly fine to object and resign your positions of leadership in party offices. Please don't post that immigration issues aren't in the party platform because they are. In addition, please don't claim your club isn't taking a stance on the issues when you clearly are."
“I don't agree 100 percent on everything with Trump, but he is following the platform with his recent screening implementations and discussions of a border walls. As a Longwood graduate, who believes in free exchange of thought in a respectful way, I urge you to not censor comments here or delete relevant information.”
The post was edited after the issue was brought to the attention of the College Republicans.
“A local Republican group from Cumberland (County Republican Committee) commented that we weren’t supporting them and their counter-protest,” said Garrett.
According to Shores, all of the Facebook comments weren't from the Cumberland committee. Her comments were followed by representatives from other local Republican committees, including Nottoway and Campbell counties.
According to the College Republicans, Shores and others made “snide and condescending” comments about the College Republicans and their leadership in addition to their corrections regarding the Republican party’s platform.
“They left some really nasty comments and were angry we didn’t counter-protest and that we ‘didn’t support the party platform,’ ” said Garrett. “The chair of their group told me that if I objected to the party platform I should resign. I’m not going to resign.”
Dallas Looney, a member of the College Republicans, said, “The chairman was the one who formed the counter-protest and commented on our post.”
Garrett said she felt it was necessary to remove the comments made by the group on the College Republicans Facebook page.
In regard to the removed comments, Shores said, “We felt as though the CRs (College Republicans) were censoring public discussion and blowing off the correction.”
“I in no way was trying to be negative,” Shores said. “My comments and the comments of the other party leaders were deleted originally, which then made matters worse.”
The College Republicans maintained that the comments themselves were the issue, and wish to see a further acceptance of variation with the party in the future.
“I’d like to see the older Republicans out there accept a divergence of ideas from the younger generation of Republicans,” said Garrett.
Garrett said the College Republicans will writing a letter to the editor in The Farmville Herald. “They said they’d publish that,” said Garrett. “We’re going to do that.”
The Farmville Herald didn't respond to The Rotunda's emails or calls in time for print.
Follow The Rotunda for more updates.
Feb. 23, 2017, 9:08 p.m. - The Rotunda added a point of clarification regarding the local Republicans who commented on the College Republicans' Facebook post. Shores said some of the replies came from members of the Nottoway and Campbell county Republican committees. The article has been corrected to reflect this clarification.
College Republicans recently won an award for the Most Improved Chapter from the Federation of College Republicans of Virginia. College Republicans President Megan Garret is on the right.
