Student accused of making insulting remarks to teammate’s chest no longer enrolled at Gettysburg College

Unidentified Gettysburg College student charged Carving a racial epithet into a teammate’s chest The student is no longer enrolled at the Pennsylvania College of Liberal Arts, the school said in a statement over the weekend.

“We can inform you that the individual who insulted another person is no longer enrolled at the College,” the private college said in a joint statement with the victim’s family on Sunday, announcing its investigation into the on-campus incident involving members of the men’s swim team on Sept. 6.

The incident was first reported on Wednesday by the student publication From Gettysburg. A spokesperson for the college confirmed this, saying the defendant and the victim have been suspended from the swimming team pending the outcome of the investigation.

The next day, college president Bob Iuliano condemned the racist incident A letter to the campus community.

“There is no place on this campus for words or actions that degrade, belittle or marginalize a person’s identity and background,” Iuliano wrote.The victim’s family said in a statement published by The Gettysburgian on Friday: The incident allegedly occurred during an informal gathering on campus attended by members of the swim team, where the student, who is no longer enrolled, allegedly used a box cutter to carve the N-word into the victim’s chest.

The victim’s family said she was the only person of color at the meeting and that the alleged perpetrator was a trusted friend. They used the word “etch” to describe the violation and called it a “hate crime.”

The family, which said it wanted to remain anonymous and the victim’s identity, condemned the incident and said letters of complaint about discrimination, harassment and “lack of due process” were sent to state and local NAACP organizations, as well as the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission.

Spokespeople for those agencies and the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday night.

The family said prosecutors are free to investigate and potentially file a lawsuit regardless of third-party involvement, but are aware they have the option of pursuing criminal charges.

It was not stated why the victim was expelled. The family said in a statement that the student was not suspended from participating, but was “expelled.”

College spokeswoman Jamie Yates said the school was limited in what it could say until the investigation was complete, but the family said in a joint statement with the college on Sunday that the two sides had agreed to ongoing “discussions” on “how to proceed in the most constructive manner.”

The Division III men’s swimming team seems accustomed to more regional headlines, including this year’s news. seven members were elected All-Centennial Conference team or how Four members were named to the Division III Academic All-Region teamGraduates with a GPA of 3.5 or higher.

Yates said in an emailed statement that the college removed the team roster due to national attention, concerned about the safety of student-athletes who were suddenly exposed to the national news cycle.

The college’s president, Iuliano, defended the team’s culture and leadership on Monday, saying its captains should be commended for reporting the incident to the coaches.

“The student conduct investigation confirmed that the incident was not a byproduct of an unhealthy athletic team culture or a reflection on the team itself; rather, through the captains’ statements to their coaches, we see the measure of what it means to be a Gettysburgian,” he said in a message to the campus community.

Iuliano was founded nearly thirty years before the Civil War, making the town of Gettysburg famous and… condemning slavery as a national “sin” and had owned slaves through marriage before freeing some when he moved north — he could learn a lesson from this month’s events.

She said she has asked the college’s chief diversity officer to conduct an investigation, which should result in “concrete actions” to prevent something like this in the future.

“We know there are lessons to be learned — lessons that must take into account our shared history,” Iuliano wrote on Monday. “We know these lessons will not emerge on their own.”