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WSU officials refuted a state senator’s claims that university professors cancelled class last week to protest Donald Trump’s election.

WSU spokesperson Robert Strenge said Provost Dan Bernardo surveyed all the academic deans and found no evidence that any professors canceled classes for illegitimate reasons.

Senator Michael Baumgartner demanded on Twitter that WSU report whether any professors had cancelled classes to protest on the Glenn Terrell Friendship Mall last Wednesday, saying he received calls from students and parents complaining of such instances.

He did not cite any specific professors or classes and could not be reached for comment at his Olympia and Spokane offices. He tweeted that he believes professors canceling class to “mourn” wastes tax dollars, and that professors would be held accountable.

“Professors can protest all they want,” he tweeted, “but not on the student’s time or the public’s dime.”

Baumgartner also expressed his disapproval of how higher education institutions handled the election results.

“Classes being canceled because Trump won is why Trump won,” he tweeted.

Strenge said there are a few exceptions that allow professors to cancel classes, such as feeling too ill to teach.

“Our deans assured us that classes cancelled had legitimate excuses,” Strenge said.

Reporting by Rick Flores