The University of Oklahoma student who was implicated in a racist social media account that was sent to some black University of Pennsylvania freshmen is no longer enrolled at the school.
In 2015, a video of fraternity members at the University of Oklahoma singing a racist chant that included references to lynching went viral. Two students involved in that case are no longer enrolled at the university, and the Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter was shut down.
At the University of Pennsylvania last week, many black students were horrified to suddenly begin receiving GroupMe messages with images of people hanging from trees, slurs and insults, some from an account nicknamed “Daddy Trump.”
More than 7,500 alumni signed a petition condemning the incident — as the university’s leadership was quick to do — and calling on president-elect Donald Trump, an alumnus, to speak out against hate crimes and hate speech. “We stand with the students on campus,” the petition states. “Our nation may be deeply divided, between so-called Red States and Blue States, but the University of Pennsylvania’s fight song declares ‘Hurrah for The Red and the Blue.’ UPenn is attended by students of all walks of life, from every corner of the planet. We are all one, and must come together in mutual understanding and respect for all people regardless of race, gender, religion, ability or sexual orientation.”
Hundreds of Penn faculty members signed a separate letter to Trump, which read, in part, “We condemn the racist, xenophobic, sexist speech and behavior that you so consistently drew upon and also inspired during your campaign for President. We implore you to immediately and publicly denounce Friday’s attack on our students.”
A spokeswoman for Trump did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. On Sunday, in an interview with “60 Minutes,” when he was asked about the rise in slurs, threats and graffiti targeted minorities in the days since the election, he said he had not heard about such reports but was very sorry to hear it.
“Stop it,” he said.
On Monday, Ron Ozio, a spokesman for the University of Pennsylvania, noted that “Penn’s Counseling and Psychological Services office is doing outreach to impacted groups, seeing students at night, during the day, in the office, in other campus locations and at events.”