‘He must go!’ Claflin protesters target Kavanaugh

The Claflin protesters against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh gathered in front of Tingley Hall on Sept. 24. (Panther photo by Olanma Hazel Mang)

Students and faculty of Claflin University protested the pending confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on Monday.

The protest took place on the university’s campus in front of Tingley Memorial Hall at 1 p.m.

“I believe that a nomination of a Supreme Court justice must be one that has impeccable morals and history and this particular individual does not,” said Deborah Laufersweiler-Dwyer, criminal justice instructor and chair of the Department of Social Sciences.

She said she is a sexual assault survivor and is not surprised at President Donald Trump’s continued support for Kavanaugh.

“The man is misogynistic. He, himself, has been accused of sexual assault and sexual harassment and has continually demeaned women in all sorts of ways,” she said.

Earlier this year on July 9, Trump announced Kavanaugh as his nominee to become a Supreme Court justice.

On Sept. 16, The Washington Post published an article about an attempted sexual assault that happened in the early 1980s.

The accuser, now known to be psychology professor Christine Blasey Ford, said Kavanaugh unsuccessfully tried to “attack [her] and remove [her] clothing,” CNN reported.

A second accuser also came forward with a sexual misconduct accusation against the nominee.

In an interview with The New Yorker, Deborah Ramirez said Kavanaugh exposed his genitals to her at a dorm party at Yale 35 years ago.

Kavanaugh denied the accusations in an interview with Fox News on Monday.

“I’ve never sexually assaulted anyone, not in high school, not ever,” he said. “I’ve always treated women with dignity and respect.”

A third accuser came forward on Wednesday, a day before Kavanaugh and Ford are to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

At the protest, senior English education major Chelsey Williams chanted, “Kavanaugh, he must go!”

She said she came out to support Kavanaugh’s accusers and every other victim of sexual assault or harassment.

“I think that we have to work harder, just as citizens, to ensure that these people who are committing crimes are held accountable. I think that that's everybody's main concern here,” Williams said.

“There's been a lot of scandals with this government under the Trump administration, and things like this are just a mere representation of why we need him out of the office," Grant said.

Following the second allegation, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein asked the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee for “an immediate postponement” of Kavanaugh’s confirmation proceedings, according to CNN.

Feinstein also requested that the new allegation be investigated by the FBI.

Winter Grant, a senior sociology major, said the allegations did not surprise her. (Panther photo by Olanma Hazel Mang)