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Betsy DeVos encourages students to not ‘be nasty’ on Twitter - so one student asks her about Trump

'It just seems like our current president is the prime example of hiding behind Twitter handles,' one student says 

Kimberley Richards
New York
Wednesday 19 September 2018 15:34 BST
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Education Secretary Betsy DeVos
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos

Betsy DeVos encouraged a group of students in Philadelphia to not say “nasty” things on Twitter during a town hall meeting, leading one student to ask her why the Donald Trump does not follow that same advice.

During the student Town Hall, Ms DeVos discussed the importance of free speech and how it is being threatened on college campuses to a group of students ranging from elementary to college age.

“Learning is about thinking, reasoned argument and discovering facts,” she said. “If there is no objective truth, then there is no real learning.”

Ms DeVos then advised students to approach others with respect and to not hide behind Twitter handles and “be nasty”.

“It is easy to be nasty hiding behind screens and Twitter handles,” she said. “It’s not so easy face to face.”

Kaileigh Murphy, a 21-year-old college student, told Ms DeVos that President Trump does not appear to follow that same advice during a question-and-answer session of the town hall.

Ms DeVos responded to Ms Murphy by saying: “The separation that occurs between someone who puts something out on social media without really considering the receiving end of that communication does not help with the overall discourse.”

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The Education Secretary appeared at the National Constitution Centre as part of the centre’s celebration of Constitution Day making the signing of the US Constitution on 17, September 1787.

Last spring, First Lady Melania Trump was widely criticised after the launch of her “Be Best” campaign, an initiative that in part focuses on social media use and online bullying.

Many on social media called attention to Mr Trump’s behaviour on social media. In August, the US president called his former staffer Omarosa Manigault Newman “that dog” via Twitter.

After the town hall, Ms Murphy told reporters that she believes Mr Trump is the “prime example” of Ms DeVos’ messaging around social media use.

“It just seems like our current president is the prime example of hiding behind Twitter handles,” she said. “So I wanted to ask her, if she feels this way, why isn’t it coming out in the other levels of our government?”

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