Just days after the University of North Dakota (UND) was nationally embarrassed over a student’s racist snap, the college is in hot water once again.
In another Snapchat post that could potentially damage the university’s reputation and recruitment efforts for African American students, a group of white female students are seen wearing blackface, with the caption “Black Lives Matter.”
The snap was discovered just over 24 hours after a previous snap that three white female students posted after stealing an African American roommate’s phone and locking her out of her dorm room. In that post, three white female students are all smiling, and the caption on the photo reads, “Locked the black bitch out!”
While the university has already opened an investigation into the first photo, University of North Dakota Mark Kennedy said the second racist social media post in two days shows that the school has a lot of work to do to educate students on diversity, inclusion, and respect for others. In a public statement issued Friday evening, Kennedy said he will personally undertake an endeavor to build out a diversity education initiative for UND students.
I have been disappointed to learn that we have people in our university community who don’t know that the kind of behavior and messaging demonstrated in these two photos is not ok, and that, in fact, it is inexcusable.
Our mission is educational in nature. Our student conduct process is educational in nature. This is our opportunity to provide an education to all members of our campus community, especially those who may not understand the gravity of their actions. Based upon my conversations with students and others, I can assure you that the messages of the two photos are painful to many individuals.
I have heard from many within our campus community, as well as alums and individuals not directly connected to the University, who are encouraging us to use this situation as an opportunity to address what some see as long standing issues within our community and across the country.
We must demand better of ourselves and our university community. I am directing my team to explore best practices for diversity education amongst premier institutions and will work collaboratively with the AVP for Diversity and Inclusion and University Senate to bring it to reality at UND.
As of this writing, the students in the photo have not been publicly named.
Tom Cahill is a writer for US Uncut based in the Pacific Northwest. He specializes in coverage of political, economic, and environmental news. You can contact him via email at tom.v.cahill@gmail.com, or friend him on Facebook.
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