Two members of the swim team at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania have been suspended after it was reported that a racial slur was scratched onto a student's body.
According to The Guardian, officials received “a deeply concerning report of a racial slur being scratched on to a student using a plastic or ceramic tool,” officials at the liberal arts school said in a statement last week.
“This is a serious report, which is being actively assessed through the student conduct process,” the college said. “At this point, the students involved are not participating in swim team activities.”
A family member of the victim told the Gettysburgian that the victim had the N-word cut into their chest by someone they trusted. The victim's family said they consider the incident a hate crime.
“The reprehensible act was committed by a fellow student-athlete, someone he considered his friend, someone whom he trusted. This student used a box cutter to etch the N-word across his chest,” the family told the Gettysburgian.
They added: “As we wait to discuss the decisions made by college staff, the harm continues without much relief. Media outlets (social, online, and broadcast) continue to perpetuate misinformation stemming from an act of racial animus. In the same vein, the isolation that pairs with being isolated from many in the Gettysburg College community that he had come to trust deepens the harm.
Gettysburg College president Robert Iuliano said he felt “profound distress about what happened” and the impact on the implications “for a community continuing its evolving efforts to create a truly inclusive environment.”
“No matter the relationship, and no matter the motivation, there is no place on this campus for words or actions that demean, degrade, or marginalize based on one’s identity and history,” he said in a statement that also cautioned against speculation “based on fragments of information that may or may not be accurate.”
