A student journalist at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication said that she was involuntarily removed from her position at a campus radio station Thursday following weeks of controversy surrounding her Aug. 29 tweet about Jacob Blake, the man who was shot and paralyzed by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The school again denied it.
In early September, Arizona State University senior Rae'Lee Klein was asked to step down as Blaze Radio station manager after sharing a New York Post article containing graphic details from a police report accusing Blake of sexual assault on Twitter. She captioned the article, "Always more to the story, folks. Please read this article to get background of Jacob Blake's warrant. You'll be quite disgusted." The tweet has since been deleted.
Klein received backlash for the post, which some viewed as justifying police brutality against Black people using a claim made by law enforcement. She also received support from conservative Arizona politicians like Republican Rep. Bob Thorpe and Rep. Debbie Lesko.
On Thursday, Klein said that she was dismissed from her job and offered a series of alternative positions with Blaze or the university.
"The Cronkite School has officially removed me from my position as Station Manager, despite refusal to inform me of what university/Cronkite rules I violated," Klein said in a tweet.
In a conversation with The Arizona Republic, Klein elaborated that in her meetings with Interim Dean of the Cronkite School Kristin Gilger, she was informed about the school's social media guidelines, which broadly discourage sharing personal opinions online. Klein felt, though, that she was being disproportionately targeted while other students are given a pass.
A Cronkite spokesperson declined to confirm Klein's removal or respond to these allegations in an email to The Republic on Thursday.
However, according to Arizona State University's student services manual, student employment is "considered temporary and can be terminated at any time without cause or... (Read more)
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