Ursinus Board Chairman Under Fire For 'Elitist, Racist, Sexist' Tweets

An Ursinus College official is in hot water after a series of tweets he wrote were discovered by a student, republished online, and labeled "elitist, racist, and sexist" by a fellow board member.

Michael Marcon, a 1986 graduate of Ursinus, recently took over as the Chair of the Board of Trustees. He is also the CEO of Equity Risk Partners, an insurance brokerage in San Francisco.

The tweets in question were mostly written three or four years ago and have been subsequently removed by Marcon. Emily Brush, an Ursinus student, published the them first on Odyssey, an online content platform, expressing her dismay.

"As a generally liberal campus, or at least one that makes an effort to respect all people, one would think that our board—and especially its Chairman—would reflect those values. Or, at the very least, make his public social media accounts not openly degrading to almost every single demographic," she wrote.

Here are some of Marcon's deleted tweets which have generated the most discussion:

• (retweeted) "Bruce Jenner got 25 K for speaking engagements. Caitlyn gets $100K. What wage gap?"
• Yoga pants? Per my DTW visual survey, only 10% of users should be wearing them. The rest need to be in sweats - or actually get dressed."
• "Gotta love a janitor with a 'Ban Fracking Now' sticker on his bucket. Barack is clearly reaching his target demographic."
• "Single longest line ever. 'Excuse me, where is the first class line?' Oh right, Bruce is a democrat. We are all equal. Bummer."
• "Instead of car pool lanes, I need a 'I am more important than you are' lane."

According to Philly.com, Marcon issued a statement on Monday: “I am sorry for creating a situation that has led to frustration, confusion and disappointment. More is expected of a trustee, and I resolve to live up to the college’s high standards.”

However, one fellow board member, 1987 Ursinus grad David Bloom, had seen enough. Bloom wrote a letter to the Ursinus College student newspaper, the Grizzly, to announce his resignation on Saturday.

"Upon reviewing Mr. Marcon's published comments, I read strong evidence of an elitist, racist, sexist, body-shaming, anti-LGBTQ, exclusive minded, and generally intolerant individual," Bloom wrote.

Bloom added that he did not believe Marcon had genuinely apologized in his statement, and that his words were contrary to the spirit and purpose of the university. "I do not believe in thought police or political correctness," he added. "That said, it is my belief that...a spirit of acceptance is not in question or a point to be debated."

The controversy has riled up emotions on both sides, with students taking to Twitter saying that they won't donate if Marcon is forced out. Others, meanwhile, say that they won't donate until Marcon resigns.

Image via Ursinus College.