(This story has been updated since it's initial publication date to include images and video from a student presentation by the Office of Multicultural Affairs)
According to Abilene Christian University President Phil Schubert, multiple girls involved in recording a racially offensive video and sending it over Snapchat have been removed from the university.
The students involved filmed a video in which a white girl wearing blackface, said “I am a strong black woman,” before putting a pair of red lips in her mouth, and laughter was heard from the background. The video quickly went viral after a twitter user uploaded it and tagged the ACU twitter page.
Prentice Ashford, Director of the ACU Office of Multicultural Affairs, said he was shocked, hurt, and concerned when he saw the video, and calls for people to be more open-minded.
“This just speaks for the increased need for education, understanding, going outside your normal peer group, and really having an open heart to difference," Ashford said. "I think it really challenges us to step outside of our comfort zone and what we know, to consider another person’s perspective, lifestyle, and experience.”
In a release from the school, Schubert said that ACU does not tolerate harassment of any kind, and that the students were no longer at ACU. Neither the names of the girl In the video or the students behind the camera were released. Schubert also said that ACU must do better to work together and build an inclusive, diverse campus community in which each person is respected and loved.
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