It has come to the attention of CDNJ that online content has been circulated by Chairman Scanlan and the Sussex County GOP twitter. As the College Democrats of New Jersey, we are committed to representing all college students in New Jersey, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sex, or religion. After reviewing the content, we determine that the content is abhorrent, racist, and does not represent the values of New Jersey. This is the brand of content that we expect to see associated with white nationalists, not with a member of the Board of Trustees to a college. Jerry Scanlan is the Vice Chairman of the Sussex County Community College Board of Trustees and has proven that he can not operate both as a respectable representative for the Community College and as the Leader of the Sussex County GOP. The content shared by the Twitter page @SussexCountyGOP has demonstrated that Scanlan is supportive of racist and vulgar rhetoric. This rhetoric has no place in our country, let alone anywhere near our educational institutions. The online posts that the page “retweeted” were attacks on congresswomen Ocasio-Cortez, Talib, Omar, and Pressley among other women and Democratic politicians. The attacks spanned many topics; including Islamophobic, misogynistic, and xenophobic tropes, and threats against their lives. We determine that Scanlan is unfit to be in the diverse field of education. There were many tweets that were most recently brought to light by concerned members of the community however if you dive deeper you can find tweets attacking Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg, the religion of Islam, war-torn refugees, and the #MeToo movement. The Chairman was appointed to this position by the Sussex County Freeholder Board which has allowed for this blatant conflict of interest and abuse to continue for years. Chairman Jerry Scanlan must step down immediately as the Sussex County Community College’s Trustee Board Vice Chairman and apologize to the community which he has embarrassed and offended. Additionally we call on NJ Republican Chairman Doug Steinhardt and NJ College Republicans to disavow this racist and disgusting rhetoric.

The College Democrats of New Jersey