(WHDH) –A lecturer at the University of Wisconsin responded Monday to calls for her to be fired over a controversial Facebook page.
Betsy Schoeller, who is also a former colonel in the National Guard, commented on a post about the death of Army Specialist Vanessa Guillen who allegedly endured sexual harassment on the Fort Hood Army Base before she was murdered.
Schoeller wrote:
“Sexual harassment is the price of admission for women into the good ol’ boys club. If you’re gonna cry like a snowflake about it, you’re gonna pay the price.”
Now, a petition calling for her termination has more than 70,000 names attached.
The call was started by an Army veteran Caitlin Schleser who was also stationed at Fort Hood.
“You disrespect a uniform– I almost regret the day I put it on. That — I can’t believe that we’d let somebody wear it that feels this way. I have to do something,” she said.
Schoeller said her comment has been taken out of context and released a statement reading:
“The point I was making is that this is what women are facing in a culture of sexual harassment and misogyny…I did not mean to imply that this is how I feel. I was giving voice to the messaging that women hear in the culture of sexual harassment: The message we receive from the culture is not only will you suffer from sexual harassment, if you squawk about it, you will suffer even more.”
The school has condemned her comments but officials say they cannot regulate the private speech of its employees.
Prosecutors say they believe Guillen was murdered after confronting another solider about sexual harassment.
Army investigators say they have found no evidence to support that theory.
(Copyright (c) 2024 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)