REPORT: Texas Professor Resigns after Tweet about Sec. DeVos Being Sexually Assaulted

A Texas community college professor who Tweeted he would be okay if Education Secretary Betsy DeVos was sexually assaulted resigned from his law firm according to local news outlets.

The Carlson Law Firm accepted the resignation of their attorney and Austin Community College professor, Robert Ranco following the backlash over his tweet. The professor/attorney Tweeted “I’d be ok if #BetsyDeVos was sexually assaulted, Breitbart News reported over the weekend.

Strange how he just protected his account. pic.twitter.com/Mw6WWjninz

— J.R. Salzman (@jrsalzman) September 9, 2017

KVUE  reported the following statement from the Carlson Law Firm’s founder Craig Carlson on Monday evening:

For those of you who are wondering why this took so long, let me start by saying that this firm is a family and believe it’s up to me to show the same loyalty that I ask of my people. I wasn’t going to make a rash decision about a member of this family just to appease people on social media.

That said, I considered the health of everyone in our organization, promised my partners and my employees that we would act according to the values of our firm, and sat down to speak with Mr. Ranco.

In the end, we came to the same two conclusions:

With over 150 employees – 75% or whom are women – anyone in our company advocating or even expressing apathy towards sexual assault is affront to all victims and a line that simply cannot be uncrossed.

This has been an enormous distraction that has taken us away from the mission of our firm, which is to care for and help people.

Understanding and accepting this, Rob is taking full responsibility and choosing to resign.

As a man of faith, believer in forgiveness, and longtime friend, it is my sincere hope that Rob [will] learn from this experience and go on to have a very successful career.

Following the errant Tweet on Friday, Ranco sent the following statement to KVUE:

My tweet from Friday was a mistake. I take full responsibility from it. It was my mistake and nobody else’s and I apologize. I’ll be working continuously moving forward to make it for my mistake. I hope that Secretary DeVos and anyone else who was offended, impacted, shocked by my actions that they can find it in their hearts to forgive me.

After Ranco resigned from the firm, the Carlson Law Firm added this message via a post on Facebook:

On Monday, the firm posted another statement:

The adjunct professor may be in trouble with the Austin Community College District as well. When asked by TWCNews in Austin about the offensive Twitter post, the college responded:

The recent social media comments made by a part-time employee on his personal page do not represent ACC’s vision, mission, and values. The college does not condone these comments and their sentiment. ACC is reviewing the situation and will take appropriate action. 

The Washington Times reported that Ranco suggested that DeVos “does not fully grasp how serious of a crime rape is, and that she might come to a different policy conclusion if she did.”

His comments came after DeVos decided to drop the Obama Administration’s heavy handed Title IX policy. Breitbart News’ Dr. Susan Berry reported the policy that “forced colleges and universities to conduct ‘kangaroo courts’ in dealing with accusations of sexual assault has ‘failed.’”

DeVos wrote:

Through intimidation and coercion, the failed system has clearly pushed schools to overreach. With the heavy hand of Washington tipping the balance of her scale, the sad reality is that Lady Justice is not blind on campuses today.

This unraveling of justice is shameful, it is wholly un-American, and it is anathema to the system of self-governance to which our Founders pledged their lives over 240 years ago.