USG campaign drops out of race, presidential candidate responds to past controversial comments

Aubrey Wright, Madison Kinner
Tue, 07 Mar 2023 01:30:53 +0000
Campus, Instagram Page, News, Anti-USG, antisemitic, campaign, comments, controversial, elections, Henry Levenberg, homophobic, Julian Rodgers, Michael Farquharson, presidential candidate, race, racist, reddit, social media, undergraduate student government, usg, vice presidential candidate

Two candidates for USG have dropped out of the race after past comments from the presidential candidate have come to light. Credit: Jessica Langer | Editor-In-Chief

After screenshots of controversial posts from Undergraduate Student Government presidential candidate Michael Farquharson’s social media accounts circulated online, he and running mate Julian Rodgers dropped out of the race Sunday night.?

Farquharson confirmed in an email to The Lantern the posts — including antisemitic, racist and homophobic comments — that spread online were his, though he said context appears to be missing from certain posts.?

Farquharson said the comments were all from around two years ago when he was a teenager, and some of the screenshots were replies to posts or comments that have since been deleted.?

In the social media posts on various platforms — like Reddit or iFunny — Farquharson confirmed screenshots from August 2020 and March 2021, including some in which he purposely misspelled a version of a racial slur against Black people, used the term “Jew cop”? in a comment under a meme that included an officer wearing a Star of David instead of a regular badge and reposted a meme expressing homophobic views.??

“I am truly sorry for the comments I have made in the past,” Farquharson said. “Over the past two years since those, I have changed, and I am not that type of person. The comments were never made with intent to hurt or carry any meaning behind them, nor were they aimed at attacking anyone or group, just were thought of commenting under a meme.”

In regards to a comment posted on Reddit on a meme comparing COVID-19 death tolls to mass killings from the Nazis and the Soviet Union, Farquharson said the comment looks like “I’m implying that the Nazis only killed 2.55M people.” He said if context was provided, he was replying to a now-deleted comment that implied “Covid killed more than Nazis.” The satirical sentiment of his comment was not clear, he said.??

Farquharson said he will use this controversy “as further learning experience,” and he’s sad the campaign ended this way, though he doesn’t blame Rodgers or Henry Levenberg — a first-year graduate student in learning technologies and Farquharson’s and Rodgers’ campaign manager — for ending the campaign, as it was “probably the best move given the circumstances.”?

Farquharson ran alongside Rodgers, a first-year in film studies and marketing. Both attended USG debates Sunday, and said their campaign was based on being “Anti-USG,” hoping to stop internal spending in the organization. They also said USG should be more in touch with student issues through social media.

Rodgers issued a statement Sunday night with Levenberg announcing the campaign’s termination and condemning the comments.?

“We were unaware of the comments made by a member of our slate. We condemn these, and they do not reflect our personal views nor the views of the campaign,” Levenberg and Rogers said. “Regardless, we wanted to issue an apology to any groups this has disproportionately affected, which includes groups that we ourselves are a member of.”

Rodgers said in an email the decision to withdraw from the election was made as soon as he was made aware of Farquharson’s comments.?

“On my decision to withdraw from the election, it was the only course of action that could be taken given the information,” Rodgers said. “贬enry and I did not consult with the presidential candidate at all over this decision and moved as quickly as we could knowing the situation.”

Rodgers said he apologizes for Farquharson’s comments.?

“I would personally like to apologize to anyone for whom these comments might have hurt and also to our supporters that our campaign had to end this way,” Rodgers said. “These comments that were made do not reflect the opinions of myself and I condemn them.”