Gettysburg College Swim Team Member Racially Assaulted: N-Word Carved on Chest
In a shocking incident, a student who was a member of the school’s swim team at Pennsylvania’s Gettysburg College was racially assaulted and the N-word was carved on his chest by two fellow students.
The perpetrators of the heinous act have not been publicly identified and the Gettysburg Police Department’s police chief told media house ABC that they have not received any complaint regarding the incident.
The incident happened at an on-campus residence during an informal social gathering.
The Gettysburg College swim team has stated that both students were suspended from the team after it was revealed that they carved a racial slur on the chest of another teammate.
The suspended students used a plastic or ceramic tool to carve the racial slur.
The swim team in a statement released on their website on Wednesday night said,
“Given the intense focus surrounding the recent events on campus, the Gettysburg College Swim Team feels compelled to address the incident directly. We acknowledge the past few weeks have been extraordinarily difficult for many people within our campus community and beyond. Our hearts are with everyone who has been directly and indirectly affected by this. The pain and anguish caused by the heinous act that occurred, and the media coverage that has followed, have affected people far and wide. As a swim team, both collectively and as individuals, these days have been some of the hardest of our lives.”
Gettysburg College Swimmer Racially Assaulted
The reprehensible act has been strongly condemned by Bob Iuliano, the president of Gettysburg College and also thanked the swim team’s upperclass students for bringing the incident to the notice of the college authorities.
Bob stated,
“No matter the relationship, and no matter the motivation, there is no place on this campus for words or actions that demean, degrade, or marginalize based on one’s identity and history,”
Despite the victim being encouraged by the college Campus Safety to contact law enforcement, the victim’s family has not filed a police complaint.
It is still not clear if the student who had the slur carved on his chest was accused of any wrongdoing but his family in a statement which was published in the school’s newspaper seemed to indicate that the victim is being accused by some of being a willing participant in the incident.
The family said in the statement,
“For the sake of our son’s well-being, we are attempting to address the recent challenges by mirroring our son’s spirit of humility and courage,”. “Our son did not choose to have a hateful racial slur scrawled across his chest, but he has chosen not to return the hate. He did not choose the color of his skin tone, but has chosen to embrace the strength and diversity it represents. Our son did not choose to be shunned and isolated at the behest of some who pay lip service to inclusion and diversity.”
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