Army ROTC reverses course on Davidson cadet, saying the investigation is ongoing

Six days after tweeting that a Davidson College ROTC cadet was not responsible for racist and anti-Semitic social media posts, the leader of the U.S. Army ROTC tweeted Wednesday morning that, in fact, an investigation into the cadet is ongoing.

Maj. Gen. John Evans wrote that his first tweet, about 24 hours after an activist group said it had connected the cadet to a now-deleted Twitter account, was “based on an investigation that I thought was thorough and complete,” the new tweet said.

“Since then @ArmyROTC has been informed that Davidson PD is further investigating malicious Tweets attributed to an ROTC Cadet. We are assisting in this investigation,” Evans’ tweet continued.

A Davidson College spokesman confirmed Tuesday afternoon that its investigation is ongoing. Davidson town police assisted with the investigation in its early days, department spokeswoman Cristina Shaul said.

The college spokesman, Jay Pfeifer, said the college does not believe there are any credible threats to campus and the students connected with the investigation are not on campus.

Lt. Col. Chris Belcher, a spokesman for the ROTC, said the student in Evans’ tweet is still a cadet and is not on leave.

This story was originally published November 14, 2018 at 12:33 PM.