Updated: Aug 27, 2020 at 3:43 p.m.
Officials said they are investigating racist comments posted to a postgraduate student’s Twitter account in 2014.
Students posted four screenshots of six-year-old tweets on the Facebook page Overheard at GW from the Twitter account of a public health student, who graduated in May with a bachelor of science in public health and will be pursuing a master’s degree in public health at GW. The student’s Twitter account appears to have been deleted, and the posts include several racist messages, like “black people are black because they burnt to a crisp.”
The screenshots were originally posted on the Instagram account @exposingphillyracists where several students called on officials to address the issue.
The Hatchet is not identifying the student to preserve her privacy as the University investigates the situation.
Lynn Goldman, the dean of the Milken Institute School of Public Health, said in a statement Friday that officials find the comments “abhorrent” and “inconsistent” with the values of the public health school. She said administrators are working with “appropriate University offices” to address the comments with a “high sense of urgency.”
“We condemn racism in any form and do not tolerate unlawful discrimination,” Goldman said in the statement.
The student declined to comment. In a screenshot posted with the comments on Facebook, the student said she did not write the comments.
“I know I never will know how it feels to be a person of color, and I hope as a country we can work together to end racism,” she wrote. “I am really hurt that because I identify as a Republican, people would think I feel this way.”
Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students Cissy Petty, who students called on to respond to the situation, said this type of language is “abhorrent” and does not meet the standards of “appropriate” behavior expected on campus.
She said the incident was brought to her attention on Friday after students tagged her in the comments of the post, and Goldman took the lead in responding on behalf of the University.
“My team and I are working with Dean Goldman to address this matter and will follow our processes of investigation according to the Code of Student Conduct,” Petty said.
She said seeing the remarks “hurt, no matter the context.”
“I know there are many people in our community who are appalled by the comments as well,” she said.
Sigma Delta Tau, the sorority the student was a member of while an undergraduate student, released a statement Saturday saying the posts were brought to the chapter’s attention Friday and the chapter’s national headquarters is “aware of the situation” and plans to work “in concert” with the University to further investigate.
“We are appalled and disgusted that an alumna of our chapter allegedly made highly offensive and racist posts on her social media account,” the statement said. “The racist language and behavior do not reflect the Alpha Tau Chapter.”
The statement said the members of the sorority are committed to education on “better allyship” and “countering complacency” through workshops and training for active members of the sorority.
“In support of the GW Panhellenic Association’s action plan, we are committed to holding sessions with professionals on GW’s campus open for the entire community,” the statement said.
Representatives of the national headquarters and GW’s chapter of Sigma Delta Tau did not return requests for comment.
