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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 advance notice.”

Klein said the opinion she was sharing is that “sexual assault is disgusting.”

“We’re tasked with the job of truth,” Klein said. “It’s disheartening to be punished for trying to present a truth that isn’t necessarily easy to hear, but doesn’t need to be covered up because of that. … We rush to judge in this country very easily.”

Although police reports only contain police officers’ accounts of events and allegations reported to them, Klein said in regard to the New York Post article she shared about the police report against Blake, “I think that’s the only truth we have.”

Klein said that, for now, she does not intend to accept any of the Dean’s other positions as she tries to understand the reason for her dismissal.

“I would be more than happy to discuss these options if I can understand and tell you why… by rule, by law, by policy that have specifically been violated,” she said.

She has received “numerous job offers” from outside organizations in recent days, she added.

Vaughan Jones, one of Blaze Radio’s six directors, confirmed Thursday that Klein was no longer serving as radio station manager. He added that she had reached out to the board multiple times to ask them what they believe she did wrong.

“We believe that if a leader has lost the confidence of the people they are leading, then they are not fit to be a leader anymore,” Jones said. “That’s the stance we stick by.”

Gilger released a statement late Thursday night denying that Klein had lost her job. 

“Rae’Lee Klein has not been fired or removed from the position of station manager. Any actions that are unfolding are not punishment for a tweet,” she said in the statement.

“We have presented Rae’Lee with numerous ways to resolve the situation that take into account the needs of all students involved in the Blaze Radio organization,” but she would not be removed as station manager “because of the views she expressed” and said Klein was still an ASU employee. 

Reach the reporter at [email protected] or on Twitter @vv1lder.

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