Morgan Bettinger is a former student at the University of Virginia (UVA) who was unjustly accused of racism and harassment in 2020 by a social media horde. Her complaint was filed in August 2021 against the university and numerous administrators, alleging that they had violated her due process and First Amendment rights, after she received her psychology degree from UVA in 2021.
Since her accuser, Black Lives Matter activist Zyahna Bryant, established a relationship with Dove to promote “fat liberation” in September 2023, her case has garnered national attention and controversy.
Who Is Morgan Bettinger?
Morgan Bettinger was born and raised in Charlottesville, Virginia. Her father, who worked for the Charlottesville Police Department, is a career law enforcement officer. After fighting cancer for six years, her father, Wayne Bettinger, passed away in August 2014. Nothing is known about her mother. There are no siblings for her. In 2017, she received her diploma from Albemarle High School. She later registered at UVA, where she majored in psychology. 2021 marked her UVA graduation.
Morgan Bettinger’s Career
Morgan Bettinger has not yet begun her career in the business world. She attended UVA until 2021, when she received her psychology degree. She participated in a number of extracurricular activities at UVA, including the Kappa Delta sorority, the Student Council, the Honour Committee, and the Inter-Sorority Council. She also had positions as a teaching assistant at the UVA Curry School of Education and Human Development and a research assistant in the psychology department at UVA.
Morgan Bettinger And Zyahna Bryant
Her academic and personal accomplishments, however, were overshadowed by a contentious episode that transpired in the summer of 2020, in which she was charged with threatening violence against a gathering of Black Lives Matter demonstrators in Charlottesville by a well-known student activist.
Morgan Bettinger allegedly drove around police barricades and told demonstrators that they would create “good speed bumps,” according to activist Zyahna Bryant. Local news sources covered Bryant’s charges when they went viral on social media. Online abuse, threats of death, and requests for Bettinger’s expulsion from UVA were directed towards her.
Bettinger refuted the claims, claiming that she had just spoken informally to the driver of a dump truck that was obstructing traffic. “It’s a good thing that you are here, because otherwise these people would have been speed bumps,” she claimed to have stated to the driver. She said that she didn’t mean to hurt or offend anyone and that her remark was just a lighthearted jest. She added that she was not aware of the protest until she witnessed it and that she did not drive around any police barricades.
The University Judiciary Committee (UJC), the Office for Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights (EOCR), and the Office of the Dean of Students (ODOS) were among the university authorities that looked into Bettinger. After more than a year of study, it was determined that there was “insufficient evidence” to support Bryant’s claim that Bettinger made the “speed bumps” comment. According to one inquiry, Bryant was “more likely than not” not to have heard Bettinger say anything at all.
Bettinger received disciplinary action from the institution for going against its Standards of Conduct, even though there was no proof against her. She was forced to fulfil a number of additional sanctions, including writing letters of apology, going to diversity training sessions, and completing community service hours.
She was expelled in abeyance, which meant that while she could still graduate, she was not allowed to return to campus or take part in any university activities. Bettinger requested an appeal of the sanctions, but ODOS rejected it.
Bettinger sued UVA and other administrators in August 2021, alleging that they had violated her rights to due process and the First Amendment. She further said that she was subjected to “arbitrary” and “capricious” sanctions by ODOS, who she said had “purposefully tampered” with the investigations. She is requesting compensation for legal costs, mental hardship, and reputational loss.
