The Washington Examiner published an opinion piece on April 13, titled “When the social justice mob came for me,” with a byline identifying as former VSG Presidential Candidate Jordan Gould.
Gould confirmed in an April 13 message to The Hustler that he did not give the Washington Examiner permission to edit or post the piece.
“An adult [in my life] sent it without my knowledge. I [didn’t] know it was going to be or want it to be posted,” Gould said.
Gould declined to name the individual to The Hustler. The Examiner has not yet responded to The Hustler’s request for comment.
Following his decision to drop out of the VSG election, Gould posted an article on Medium on March 30 with the same title as The Examiner article. Gould’s Medium article resulted in a variety of student reactions, including a response letter by senior Ember Tharpe. The version published by The Examiner features several substantial changes to Gould’s original post, including a different introduction and various stylistic and rhetorical changes.
The Examiner piece also included new phrases such as “sinister mob,” and addressed The Hustler’s coverage of the election. In his Medium piece, Gould stated The Hustler posted an article that “detailed” his fraternity involvement. However, the modified article published by The Examiner included different content.
“The student paper posted an article that focused less on my platform of financial inclusivity and instead highlighted details of my fraternity involvement,” The Examiner piece read. “After the article was posted, many people learned everything they needed to know about me: I was white, in a fraternity, and Jewish.”
Vanderbilt’s lack of involvement was also targeted in The Examiner op-ed.
“[Vanderbilt’s campaign rules] require collegiality and civility, but Vanderbilt stood by while this angry mob weaponized social justice, targeted me, threatened me, and ran me out of town,” the piece read.
The university has not immediately responded to The Hustler’s requests for comment.
The Examiner piece also referred to the election process as “a victimhood arms race.”
“I was cast as a white, male evil-doer who must be shamed and punished for all the white man’s sins. I was unfit to hold office. My economic inclusion work didn’t mean a thing. I was paraded out for a social media stoning, and the social justice mob would stop at nothing,” the piece stated.
The Examiner piece concluded by addressing the motivations of “the social justice mob.”
“I’ve begun to believe that for some of my attackers, social justice is a cover for people who get pleasure from inflicting harm on others—straight-up bullying made a hundred times worse on social media. When did woke culture become so toxic?” the piece read. “Some are cowards who hide behind an avatar. I am through being trampled on, but I shouldn’t have to fight back. When the social justice mob came for me, my university did nothing.”
Gould said in a VSG GroupMe message that he never reached out to any news outlets about his Medium post.
“I’m doing everything I can to get it taken down,” Gould said in the GroupMe.
