At least two students at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania have been suspended from the swim team after a report that a racial slur was carved on a student’s body, authorities said.
School administrators received “a very concerning report of a racial slur being etched on a student using a plastic or ceramic tool,” officials at the private liberal arts school in Gettysburg, which has 2,200 students, said in a statement last week.
“This is a serious report, which is being actively evaluated as part of the student conduct process,” the university said. “At this point, the students involved are not participating in swim team activities.”
The school declined to release further details, citing that process, as well as privacy laws.
The family of the targeted student told Gettysburg College’s student newspaper, The Gettysburgian, that their son was the victim of a hate crime. The newspaper said the attacker, someone he “trusted,” used a box cutter to carve the “N” word into his son’s chest.
The alleged victim is among the students banned from participating in swim team activities while the university investigates the incident, said the family, who said in a statement to the newspaper that within two days of the incident, their son “was questioned by members of the coaching staff and summarily dismissed (not suspended) from the swim team.”
The Gettysburgian did not identify anyone by name.
The incident allegedly occurred at an “informal social gathering in a campus residence hall” and was first reported by upperclassmen on the swim team, Gettysburg College President Robert Iuliano said. The family said the incident happened Sept. 6.
“Two weeks ago, on the evening of Friday, September 6, our son was the victim of a hate crime. The incident took place at a swim team gathering,” the family of the alleged victim said in their statement to the Gettysburgian. “It is important to note that he was the only person of color at the gathering. The wrongdoing was committed by another student-athlete, someone he considered a friend, someone he trusted. This student used a box cutter to carve the ‘N’ word into his chest.”
It is not yet clear exactly how the insult was allegedly carved on the student’s chest. Neither school administrators nor the family have given details in their statements.
Iuliano described feeling “deep distress about what happened” and the impact on those who have long been underrepresented on campus, as well as the implications “for a community that continues its ever-evolving efforts to create a truly inclusive environment.”
“Regardless of the relationship and regardless of the motivation, there is no place on this campus for words or actions that demean, degrade or marginalize based on a person’s identity and history,” he said in a statement that also warned against speculation “based on fragments of information that may or may not be accurate.”
City Police Chief Robert Glenny Jr. said he contacted the college after hearing reports in the press and was told the victim had chosen to handle the matter through the college’s internal process, despite college officials encouraging the person to take the matter to police, WGAL-TV reported.
