Pennsylvania college investigates swim team after racial slur is carved on student

A student at Gettysburg College in southern Pennsylvania has left the school after a campus investigation found the student responsible for etching a racial slur across another student’s chest during a social gathering earlier this month.

Gettysburg College told NPR on Monday the student was no longer enrolled but declined to comment on whether the student was expelled or decided to leave, citing student privacy laws. The names of the students involved have also not been made public.

Over the past few weeks, the small liberal arts college of the some 2,200 students made national headlines after the school announced it was investigating a report of a hate crime. According to the school’s website, 62% of its students are white while 21% are non-international students of color.

The incident occurred on Sept. 6 during an informal gathering among the men’s swim team at an on-campus residence, according to statements made by the college and the victim’s family.

There, a student used a box cutter to write the N-word across their teammate’s chest, the victim’s family wrote in a statement published Friday in the campus newspaper, The Gettysburgian. The family added that their son was the only person of color at the gathering.

“The reprehensible act was committed by a fellow student-athlete, someone he considered his friend, someone whom he trusted,” the family said, according to the paper.

The incident was later reported by upperclassman students from the swim team — and they were applauded by Gettysburg College president Bob Iuliano in an email to the campus community about the situation on Thursday. Iuliano added that two students have since been suspended from the swim team.

On Monday, Jamie Yates, the college’s chief communications and marketing officer, told NPR the investigation was close to being finished. Once it’s closed, the school plans to work with the family about “how most constructively to move forward.”

“Those conversations have already begun and will continue. Both parties understand that this process will take time and are committed to working together,” Yates said.

In their statement to The Gettysburgian last week, the victim’s family said their son chose to attend Gettysburg College because “he felt at home on this campus.” Since enrolling, both their son and his family have felt welcomed by students, parents and staff. They added that in the past few weeks, some classmates have reached out to their son to check in on his well-being, while others have chosen to “not associate with him.”

“Our intent is that — in some small way — a heinous act can serve as a transformative moment for Gettysburg College to live up to its ideals of diversity, inclusion and justice,” the family said, according to the paper.

The family added that along with supporting the school’s investigation, they have also filed complaints of racial discrimination, harassment and lack of due process with the NAACP Harrisburg chapter, the NAACP Pennsylvania conference and the Pennsylvania Commission on Human Relations.