UVa over appointment

Objections erupt at UVa over appointment of top Trump aide

A petition says the school 'should not serve as a waystation for high-level members of an administration that has directly harmed our community.'

By BENJAMIN WERMUND

University of Virginia professors, alumni and others are up in arms over the school's plan to hire President Donald Trump’s former legislative affairs director, calling it "unconscionable" as the one-year anniversary of the deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, approaches.

Marc Short, a frequent Trump spokesman on television, is leaving the White House Friday and, beginning in August, will teach at the university's business school, where he earned an MBA. He is also slated to serve as a senior fellow at the Miller Center, a wing of the university focused on presidential history and public policy.

But an online petition blasts the school for hiring Short, saying "the university should not serve as a waystation for high-level members of an administration that has directly harmed our community." The petition was circulated on social media on Thursday.

"As we approach the first anniversary of the white nationalist violence against this university, this town, and our friends, neighbors, students faculty and staff — all of whom are represented among the injured — it is unconscionable that we would add to our university a person who served in a high-level position for the administration that first empowered, then defended, those white nationalists," the petition says.

Trump famously blamed "both sides" in the days after the violent August 2017 protests, which resulted in the death of a 32-year-old Charlottesville woman.

Short told POLITICO that he is "sympathetic to the pain in the community" and that "I think we could have done a better job expressing sympathy for the victims and outrage at those who perpetrated this evil."

But he pointed to an Aug. 14 statement in which he said the president was "unambiguous."

In that statement, Trump said, "We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence — it has no place in America." He also said "racism is evil, and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans."

Short also said he and his family "feel a particular bond and closeness to the community" of Charlottesville. He said he's been visiting the town and the college campus since he was a kid attending sporting events there.

"I think that there is, as well, a cherished tradition at Thomas Jefferson’s university, hopefully, of welcoming diversity of opinion," Short said. "I hope that the message isn’t that anyone who worked in the administration can’t work at a university."

On Thursday night, a spokesman for the Miller Center said it is committed to nonpartisan and bipartisan study of the presidency and employs former officials from both Republican and Democratic administrations.

"We understand and respect those UVA faculty members and other critics — even some from within the Miller Center — who disagree with the decision to name Marc Short a senior fellow. One of our core values is fostering robust, but civil, debate across our nation's bitter partisan divide," said Howard Witt, director of communications and managing editor at the Miller Center, in an email.

Witt said the addition of Short "deepens our scholarly inquiries into the workings of the American presidency. And his presence reinforces our commitment to nonpartisan and bipartisan dialogue among scholars and practitioners of good will who may nevertheless hold strongly opposing personal political viewpoints. Moreover, Short can offer insights into the Trump administration that are not currently available to our scholars or the public at large."

Other faculty and senior fellows include Melody Barnes, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council in the Obama administration; Mary Kate Cary, a speechwriter for President George H.W. Bush; and Chris Lu, assistant to the president for Cabinet affairs and later deputy secretary of labor in the Obama administration, Witt said.

In an announcement about Short's appointment to the Miller Center last week, the school said the appointment "builds on the Miller Center’s rigorous commitment to both nonpartisanship and bipartisanship."

William Antholis, Miller Center director and CEO, said in the statement that “Marc is widely respected in both parties. We had the privilege of getting to know Marc through the presidential transition and the Trump administration’s first year, and have been impressed by his professionalism, effectiveness, and collegiality.”