Private Christian university in Georgia drops Nike in response to Kaepernick ad

Monday, Sept. 10, 2018

CLEVELAND, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) -- A small private Christian liberal arts and science university in Cleveland, Georgia, says it has dropped Nike in response to the company's ad with Colin Kaepernick.

Truett McConnell University President, Dr. Emir Caner, announced Friday morning the school will no longer purchase or carry apparel by the athletic company.

According to a press release on the university's website, the announcement is in response to Nike's “Just Do It” ad, narrated by Colin Kaepernick. The unsigned free agent began kneeling during the national anthem in 2016 in protest of police brutality against African-Americans and minorities in the United States.

“For Nike to then hire Colin Kaepernick, a person known for wearing pigs on his socks, mocking law enforcement, kneeling against our flag, and mocking our troops, is reprehensible to my family and to the Truett McConnell family," Dr. Caner says, according to a statement on the school's website.

School officials say the university will be discontinuing their relationship with Nike in athletics and the campus store.

Any profits from remaining Nike gear sold through the campus store will be directly donated to Wounded Warriors and the Fraternal Order of Police, according to the school.

In November 2017,

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Truett McConnell University was founded in 1946 according to the school's website.