COLUMBIA HEIGHTS — A Columbia Heights school board member is rejecting Gov. Mark Dayton’s call for him to resign after being linked to an offensive social media comment about Muslims.

Grant Nichols posted a message on his Facebook page Sunday, telling the governor he will not resign, and that he “will not be bullied by party politics for doing nothing.”

Nichols has been under fire for a since-deleted comment from his Facebook account that described the bathroom habits of Muslim people as “unsanitary.” Nichols has denied writing the comment.

On Friday Dayton visited Columbia Heights High School, where he praised students for staging a peaceful protest over the matter earlier in the week. He also told reporters that Nichols should resign or be forced to resign.