The University of Richmond was rocked by scandal after racist graffiti was found on campus. According to The Richmond Times-Dispatch, a “disturbing racial epithet” was found written on the door of an African-American student. A total of three students had their name tags defaced in what is believed to be targeted incidents.
Chief of Police Dave McCoy said the three incidents were aimed at “intimidation with a racial and national origin basis” with reports that the n-word was used.
“This cowardly and racist act is profoundly hurtful and deeply offensive,” university President Ronald Crutcher wrote in a campus-wide note.
“An act of racism against any of us on this campus is an act that affronts all of us, and everything we are committed to as a University community,” he said. “We will not tolerate members of our community being targeted for harassment based on their identities.”
Students have been protesting at various events since news of the vandalism first surfaced, including wearing all-black and carrying protest signs at a recent Spiders men’s basketball game.
The University of Richmond’s Black Student Alliance, the Multicultural Student Solidarity Network and two student government organizations also issued a statement on the vandalism and called for a campus-wide discussion on Tuesday to address racism.
“Every Spider should be treated as a valued member of our community,” the statement reads. “We, as a university, have failed in that regard. It is important that we recognize this failure and that we move as a group to address the discrimination that people on our campus deal with every day.”
The campus police are investigating the incident.
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