‘Racism has no place here’: University leaders respond after racial slur incident at off-campus party

 By Lauren Steinbrook, Michelle Loria Alvarado and Parker Henningsen

Ten days after a photo of a student athlete with a racial slur painted on his chest surfaced on mostly anonymous social media platforms, University President Dan Boone released a statement and invited all students, staff and faculty to a forum to discuss the impact of the incident on campus.

“I am writing to share that the University is aware of a recent off-campus, non-sanctioned student event on September 20 that did not uphold our values and caused harm to our community,” Boone wrote in an email sent campus-wide on Sept. 30. “Our student development team has been actively investigating this matter. This work is ongoing. We recognize the pain that this incident, which involved a racial slur, has caused on our campus. As followers of Christ, we strive to create a respectful, Christ-like community in a fallen world. We devote ourselves to creating a culture where everyone is known and loved.”

According to campus officials, students attended an off-campus party on Sept. 20 and by Sunday morning, Sept. 21,  a photo was posted on the anonymous social media app Fizz and on Snapchat of the student with the N-word  painted on his chest. 

At the forum on Tuesday, hosted by Boone, around 65 students, faculty and staff spoke of the impact of the incident on campus and questioned why it took university administration so many days to say anything publicly about it. 

Both Boone and Jessica Dykes, vice president of student development, said they are prohibited by federal privacy laws to disclose information about student disciplinary proceedings but they have been working since learning about the issue to investigate multiple students and initiate the university’s student judiciary process. 

“I’m grieved by the things that may have occurred outside of our campus, that don’t align. We don’t believe racism has a place here at Trevecca, and is not a part of who we are,” said Dykes.“I want our students to know that we have a process here, and that the university immediately addresses student incidents and student concerns, and we do have an ongoing investigation that did start immediately upon learning of the incident, and has continued and will continue until we wrap up that process.”

Dykes said she cannot disclose how many students are being investigated or the status of the investigation or the students involved. 

“We’ve been working consistently on this since September 21 and are continuing to work on it today,” said Dykes. “In these situations, we are not legally able to share the actions or the response that the university may take in this situation. But at the same time, understand that we believe in following our process and we immediately started our process, and are dedicated to that. And we’re also dedicated to creating an environment where student safety is kept in mind.”

Athletic Director Mark Elliott said he cannot discuss details related to student athlete conduct investigations, including roster dismissals or team suspensions. 

Elliott sent an email to all student athletes on Thursday, Sept. 25 stating he was “aware of social media posts over the weekend that showed one of our student athletes posing with a racial slur written on their chest.”

He thanked the many athletes who were concerned about this behavior and reached out. 

“Let me be clear: racism of any kind does not have a place in our athletic department nor our community.  I think you know that we take the conduct and character development of our athletes seriously, and the posted image reflected unacceptable behavior that does not in any way align with the values of the University or the athletics department,” Elliott wrote in the email. “I want to express my concern and sadness to those who were hurt by these actions. Concurrently, I want to express gratitude to the athletes, coaches, and staff members who continue to pursue our daily aspirational goal of the true meaning of Christian-Scholar-Athlete.”

Walden, Trevecca’s black student association, hosted a meeting on Thursday afternoon to provide students with a place to process how they were feeling.  Club President Anthony Griffey said he and other officers of the club began reaching out to administrators as soon as they were made aware of the photo.

“We’ve talked to a couple of (administrators) around campus, just to make sure that something is actually going to happen and that we’re just not going to let the situation roll over or try to sweep it under the rug, but we want to actually make sure that something actually happens, just so this situation doesn’t get repeated again,” he said.

Multiple students at the forum on Tuesday expressed sadness, anger and fear and expressed concerns that the issue would be minimized by the administration. 

“I understand that it was impossible for them [students] to know the depth and number of hours that were being invested in an investigatory process and the complexity of the issue we were dealing with,” said Boone after the forum. “I wish, on their behalf, we could have been more public sooner than what we were able to and I regret that we weren’t.” 

Dykes said as the investigation is on-going that it is her hope that all students know they are seen and loved. 

“We want them to know that they belong, and behavior like that doesn’t belong in our community,” she said. 

Note: This story contains references to a racial slur. The AP Style Manual states to only include the shorthand “N-word” when it is crucial to the story or understanding of a news event.