A Tennessee teenager called her school board a group of “cowards” last week for not firing a member who hugged her and remarked that she was “hot” during a public meeting last month.
Hannah Campbell, a student in Washington County, said bluntly in a fiery speech before the school board Thursday that she does not “forgive” the members for allowing Keith Ervin, a member since 2006, to keep his position.
“To begin, I want to address Ervin’s actions, which were not only unwelcome, but sexist and derogatory,” said Campbell, a student representative on the board. “I know this because he has not behaved this way with any of our male members, nor do I believe that he ever would. I do not wish to beat a dead horse, as everyone here has clear context as to what happened was wrong.”
During the April 2 school board meeting, Ervin called Campbell “hot” after she delivered remarks.
“God, you’re hot. Do you know that? Damn. Where do you go to school at?” Ervin said as he put his arm around her and hugged her from the side.
Some other board members at the table lightly laughed, and the meeting went on, according to a livestream of the meeting.
Shock and anger broke out through the small community, with many residents calling for Ervin to be removed from his post. The board agreed to censure him, but he has kept his position.
“The failure to act on the board’s behalf was and is equivalent to his actions as it has hurt me just as much,” Campbell said Thursday. “To watch the chairperson be so quick to bang her gavel to control the public yet not use it once in order to control her own peer was disgusting.”
Ervin did not immediately reply to a request for comment. In a previous statement, he denied any wrongdoing and said his comment was taken out of context.
“Last week at the board meeting I wanted to congratulate a student who did a great job sharing thoughts with all that was in the room,” he said.
“When I mentioned she was hot, I meant she was on a roll. It was nothing to do with her appearance,” he continued.
A Change.org petition was started April 3 calling for Ervin’s removal. It has collected 6,775 signatures and 360 comments, some of them from local residents and parents.
