FOX 4 WFTX - Cape Coral, Fort Myers, Naples News, WeatherVerbal attack on an Ave Maria student
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This is just a taste of what Rusty Hemminger sees when he signs on to Facebook - his fellow students' descriptions of him.
"amature drama queen," "extraordinarily annoying annoying," and - "a loser who will die alone."
They're comments from a facebook group created for just one reason: to talk about Rusty Hemminger.
"It's hurtful in the sense that I don't know them, you know?" he told me.
Rusty's fellow students created the facebook page after he agreed to do interviews with us three weeks ago. He told us then that he likes attending Ave Maria University, but doesn't always agree with its policies.
"It seems like there are other cases where it seems like the school is trying to shut down and silence people who might be critical," he said.
Rusty's publicly stated opinion led 16 fellow students to sign on to the Rusty bashing site. I ran into the group's founder, student Patrick Simmons.
"I wouldn't do something like this if Rusty didn't go on the news," he told me.
He said the stream of written insults is supposed to be funny.
Calling him a drama queen or fat....any of those things aren't bullying or hurtful?" I asked.
"I don't think calling him a drama queen is bullying," he responded. "Like I said, it's just satire."
Another member agrees.
"I don't think I would describe it as hateful," he said. "I think people might be mildly irritated."
They're irritated with Fox 4, calling us stupid on the page. That skepticism was on full display as one student recorded his own version our latest visit to Ave Maria. But their strongest words are for Rusty, all because he challenged the school's policies publicly.
"Saying that on the news could be potentially very damaging to the university which does a lot of good," one student told me.
"I just don't like people saying false things about the university," another said.
A university that prides itself on Catholic compassion, something Rusty doesn't see or feel when he sees the page.
Pooja Lodhia
Reporter
