Gettysburg College suspends two students for racist incidents

Two members of the Gettysburg College swim team were suspended earlier this week after they were accused of using a plastic or ceramic tool to carve a racial slur into the skin of another student. The school has not released much further information about the alleged incident, but issued a statement yesterday saying:

“The College received an extremely disturbing report of a racial slur carved into a student using a plastic or ceramic tool. This is a serious report and is being actively investigated as part of the student contact process.”

As of Thursday evening, the school had not communicated the incident to students. School President Bob Luliano has since sent an email to the entire campus telling students: “There is no place on this campus for words or actions that demean, degrade or exclude anyone based on their identity and history.”

Previously, many students were unaware of the incident. Gettysburg College is known as a predominantly white institution (PWI) and the incident left many students very unsettled.

“There are not many African-American students on this campus and for such racist incidents to occur on this campus is absolutely unacceptable,” said Elijah Powell. “This kind of thing should not be happening on this campus.”