State Senate Democratic Leader: 'Romney owes students an apology'

LANSING –
Senate Democratic Leader Gretchen Whitmer spoke on the Senate floor May 10 to denounce Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney after media reports detailed stories in which Romney bullied and attacked a fellow classmate while a student at Cranbrook in Bloomfield Hills.
"What kind of message does it send to our students when Republicans continue to support a candidate who thought it acceptable to bully a classmate while in high school and shrugs it off with a laugh when asked it today," said Whitmer. "Romney needs to not only own up to his past mistakes but listen to our students who struggle far too often today with this exact type of bullying so he understands the terrible impact it can have on their lives."
Reports from classmates of Romney describe detailed incidents of harassment, bullying and even an attack on a fellow student in which Romney had him pinned down on the floor and cut his hair off simply because he thought the student was a homosexual. The victim of that attack described in later years that the incident was "horrible" and something that had stayed with him throughout his life.
Whitmer pointed out that this is the exact type of behavior the Legislature worked to prevent when they passed Matt's Safe School law in 2011.
"It appears Mitt Romney believes he had his own personal license to bully and that he is above having to apologize to those he hurt," added Whitmer. "Perhaps this explains why Governor Romney eliminated a program designed to help implement bullying prevention programs in Massachusetts schools. It's a disturbing pattern of behavior."