Student Conduct Services is reviewing a social media account that used “violently racist language,” according to a University-wide email from President Joyce McConnell.
When individuals use racist words or actions to attempt to threaten our values and harm members of our community, we stand in solidarity to repel those threats.” -Joyce McConnell, CSU President
The email, sent Monday night, said that recent activity on the social media account, which “may belong to a member of the CSU community,” used violently racist language in an initial post as well as racist and homophobic language when replying to commenters.
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“I am grateful to the CSU affiliates — and the members of the larger community — who made University staff aware of these posts,” the email said. “Thanks to their commitment to condemning hate, we were able to refer the posts to CSU’s Bias Assessment Team.”
CSU offers an online referral form for incidents of bias committed by CSU community members, along with an “Educate Yourself” page available through the Race, Bias and Equity Initiative.
McConnell’s email said that the post explicitly violates the Student Conduct Code and that the posts have a painful impact on CSU community members and efforts to build a community that values diversity, equity and inclusion.
“I am disgusted and angry that any member of our community would think such things, let alone think it acceptable to use their violent words publicly as weapons,” the email said. “The posts degrade our Black students, faculty and staff and in doing so, diminish all of us.”
The statement comes after McConnell’s official statement on May 29 condemning the George Floyd killing, and after a series of race and bias-related incidents rattled the CSU community in the fall, including a photo that featured four CSU freshmen in blackface.
McConnell also took a moment to remember the names of “recent victims of murderous racism,” such as Floyd and Breonna Taylor, whose deaths have sparked international protests in past weeks.
“CSU is avowedly anti-racist,” the email said. “When individuals use racist words or actions to attempt to threaten our values and harm members of our community, we stand in solidarity to repel those threats.”
Noah Pasley can be reached at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @PasleyNoah.
