“Racism has no home here” | The Gettysburg College men's swimming team issues a statement, the campus community responds after a student was insulted with a racial slur

GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Gettysburg College has found itself in the national spotlight following a recent incident involving members of its men's swimming team.

A student is accused of using a box cutter to carve “the N-word” into another student’s chest. According to the school president, this happened on September 6 at an informal social gathering held at a residence hall on campus.

According to the school, this student is “no longer enrolled” at Gettysburg, although it is unclear whether the swimmer was expelled from the school.

“I can't say I was surprised, it's very unfortunate that this was the reason for the school's attention because I feel like there are really good things happening at this school,” said Obaapa Danquah-Smith, junior at Gettysburg College and president of the Gettysburg African Student Association, regarding the hearing on the incident.

Danquah-Smith and other students from the college's Black Student Union and African Student Association told FOX43 they were disappointed by what they said was a “lack of transparency” from the school in its handling of the situation.

Danquah-Smith says she found out about the incident through social media.

“My friend sent me a TikTok and said, 'This is your school, right?' and I'm like, 'This is my school,'” she explained. “If you knew such a situation happened, why didn’t you tell us?”

“Especially me, as president of the Black Student Union, not once have I had anyone from the school contact me to let us know what was going on,” added Justin Whittick, a sophomore who serves as president of the Black Student Union of Gettysburg College. “We understand that they can't give us all the details, but at least let us know that they are conducting this investigation, they are taking the situation seriously.”

Both students say the incident doesn't make them feel any less safe.

“We feel this situation does not reflect the culture here at Gettysburg, but it does reflect what is happening at this school,” Whittick said. “I don't feel any less safe on campus or for anyone who has thought about it.” As a black student who has wanted to come to Gettysburg before, don't necessarily let this situation deter you. There are still a lot of Black people here doing great things and we have so many different clubs and organizations you can join. We hope this situation can bring Black people on campus together and show us that we need to be here to support each other during this time.”

“I don't want the narrative to be, 'Black people in Gettysburg feel unsafe,'” Danquah-Smith added.

The university's president released two campus-wide messages regarding the incident on September 19th and 23rd.

The school also released a joint statement with the victim's family, which was published Sept. 22 in the college's student newspaper, The Gettysburgian.

On Thursday, Jamie Yates, the college's chief communications & marketing officer, told FOX43 that the school's investigation into the incident is now complete.

“The results of the investigation (that the student who committed this act is no longer enrolled and that we are working with the other student and his family on a productive path forward) are all we can share,” Yates said.

No charges were filed with local police. The Gettysburg County Police Chief told FOX43 Thursday that no report was made to the department.

Principal Robert Glenny Jr. said he became aware of the incident through media reports and contacted Gettysburg College, which told him that despite what the school said, the victim had decided to handle everything through the school's disciplinary process , she encouraged him to contact law enforcement.

The Gettysburg men's swimming team released its own statement about the incident late Wednesday night, saying, “Given the intense attention focused on recent events on campus, the Gettysburg College swimming team feels compelled to address the incident head-on.”

The statement reads in part: “We recognize that the last few weeks have been exceptionally difficult for many people within our campus community and beyond.”

The statement continued: “The national spotlight has unfortunately led some to believe that our team, or the culture within our team, is complicit in the racist incident that took place.” That couldn't be further from the truth .”

It continued: “This incident had nothing to do with the swim team. It was not a team-sanctioned event. It wasn't bullying. It was not supported by our team. This incident does not reflect our values ​​or who we are.”

“We want to stay away from the actual incident because we don't have all the information about it, and rather focus on how we can improve as a community and be more accepting of everyone and how we can empower the black students here on campus,” Whittick said.

You can read the swim team's entire statement here.