Racism on American college campuses is still an issue, most notably at the University of Alabama where a student was recently booted from her sorority after being caught sending a racist Snapchat photo, The Huffington Post reported. In the photo, she bragged that no black women were accepted into her sorority, Chi Omega.
The photo was a group-selfie of three Chi Omega members with the caption “Chi O got NO niggas!!!!!.” Initially, rumors had risen that the picture was altered; however, Chi Omega spokeswoman Whitney Plumpton did say that the original and the supposed altered version both contained the offensive slur.
“While the offensive word that was used is the same, the image used on these sites has been tampered with,” said Plumpton.
The University of Alabama has been a target of scrutiny over the fact that the frats and sororities of its Greek system, the largest of any American university, had been intentionally overlooking black rush candidates because of their race. When word of the Snapchat photo gained steam around the campus, university president Judy Bonner sent a campuswide email:
As many of you already know, one of our students posted a photo on Snap Chat on Saturday afternoon that included particularly offensive racial language. I immediately asked the Office of Student Conduct to conduct a full investigation and was assured by the national Chi Omega headquarters that they had already begun an investigation of their own. There will be appropriate University consequences once our investigation is completed. These consequences will be in addition to any sanctions Chi Omega’s national officers decide to impose.
We are all extremely disappointed when any student uses language that is disrespectful or offensive to any segment of the UA community. We are especially sad that this incident occurred on a day that was an exciting and happy one for the young women who participated in fall recruitment.
Commenters on college life websites have come out and supported this racist sorority girl in droves, saying that she should be pardoned because it was “just a joke.” That’s the wrong opinion. This is not a joke, and the University of Alabama can ill-afford anymore such scrutiny.
Josh is a writer and researcher with Ring of Fire. Follow him on Twitter @dnJdeli.
