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College President Under Fire for Criticizing Pro-Antifa Professor

Dartmouth College's president is defending himself to faculty after he characterized a professor's televised comments as "supporting violent protest."
Image: Mark Bray
Mark Bray (L), Author, Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook," Richard Cohen (C), President, The Southern Poverty Law Center, and moderator Chuck Todd (R) appear on "Meet the Press" on August 20, 2017 in Washington.William B. Plowman / NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images file

HANOVER, N.H. — Dartmouth College's president is defending himself to faculty after he characterized a professor's televised comments as "supporting violent protest."

President Philip Hanlon said Thursday he made the August 21 statement after a surge of reaction from students, families, alumni and others who interpreted professor Mark Bray's remarks as supporting violent protest and believed Bray was speaking for the Ivy League school.

READ: NBC News Interview with Professor Mark Bray

Hanlon was criticized in a letter by more than 100 faculty members for his statement after Bray appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press" to explain the anti-fascism movement.

Bray is the author of "Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook" and said many in the movement consider self-defense a legitimate response to white supremacist and neo-Nazi violence.

Hanlon's statement said Bray's remarks don't reflect Dartmouth's views.