Feb 15, 2022, 3:16 PM
(from Inside Higher Ed) Racist text messages from one Occidental College student to another — including one declaring, “all Asian people need to die” — have created a firestorm at the private liberal arts college, with many upset at the administration’s handling of the issue. The text messages were sent in late 2020 and the College first became aware of the controversy in fall 2021. The issue simmered under the surface until early February, when screenshots of the text messages spread on social media, prompting outrage. The student who sent the offensive messages was not disciplined, though she is no longer enrolled. The president released a statement saying that "a private text conversation, which is not targeted at an individual and does not represent a credible threat, does not necessarily constitute unlawful harassment." Students have criticized the college’s response, including its removal of messages supporting the Asian community chalked on campus, which violated the college’s chalking policy. University administrators later conceded it was a mistake to remove the messages.
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