A Christian college in West Texas has expelled some of its students after they posted a racially-charged blackface video on the internet, reports say.
Abilene Christian College expelled two of its students after they posted on Monday the video of a white woman wearing black paint on her face, the Star-Telegram reported. She said, "I'm a strong black woman," then wore oversized red lips to the laughter of several students in the background. The video can be seen here.
These are the people we go to school with #TheACUDifference pic.twitter.com/CP1U0AeGV0
— jess (@JNacole503) November 14, 2016
The video, which was captioned, "this is why black lives matter exists," quickly spread throughout campus and caused an outrage that prompted ACU president Phil Schubert to respond.
"Harassment of any kind is not tolerated at our university, and action is being taken to minimize the spread of this senseless attempt to make fun of others," Schubert said in an email sent to members of campus. He explained that several school personnel approached the students responsible for the racial post and dismissed them.
"Our deputy anti-harassment coordinator and dean of students have met with those involved in the video, and they are no longer students at ACU," Schubert said.
According to The Optimist, ACU's student newspaper, the university has an anti-harassment policy which can result to expulsion when violated. The policy, which speaks of "Discriminatory Harassment," protects students against "any detrimental action based on an individual's sex, religion, race, age, color, national origin, veteran's status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law."
One such detrimental act is "Posting objects, pictures, videotapes, audio recordings or literature that may embarrass or offend an individual because of one's legally protected characteristic." Unless the things mentioned are posted or shown for educational purposes, they will be considered a violation of school policy.
ACU President Schubert said that the incident has offended him and is sorry for how it has offended others who might have seen it or heard about it. He said the act misrepresented the school and what it believes in as a Christian university.
"We must and can do better as we work together to build an inclusive, diverse campus community in which each person is respected and loved," Schubert said.
