UW-Oshkosh chancellor reacts after racist images involving students emerge
OSHKOSH, Wis. (WLUK) -- University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh students are demanding disciplinary action after someone apparently posted social media photos that many see as racist and derogatory.
One of the photos shows students at a party standing in front of a banner with a swastika, while the other picture shows a dry erase board that says "No liberals" and goes on to include a list of racial, religious and sexual minorities.
UW-Oshkosh held a forum on the incident Friday.
"To anyone who bring hate into the Wisconsin University of Oshkosh, I invite you to leave," Chancellor Andrew Leavitt said at the forum.
Faculty and students at UW-Oshkosh say they're taking a stand against hate and bigotry on campus.
"I've had a lot of people on Twitter and social media reposting and talking about it and people from other schools are reaching out asking me why this is happening," student Malayna McDaniel said.
"My best friend is black and the other is gay so this really bothers me," she continued. "I don't see why people feel the need to write stuff like this and act like this there's no reason for it."
"It was disgusting, and I can't say that I was surprised by it, seeing as what happened previously," student Malik Martin said.
Martin says this is the second time this school year that something like this has happened. During student government elections last month, a Snapchat message circulated on campus, urging students to vote for a white candidate.
"Gets me on edge a little bit because you don't know if the person next to you feels that way," Martin said. "Especially when you see stuff like that, because I've seen them on campus before and I've never head them say that out of their mouth but when I see them at a party comfortably where that type of propaganda is being spread it's not OK."
"I certainly understand why students would feel unsafe," Leavitt said. "It breaks my heart because this is a place of learning. We need to create an environment that's supportive of students so they don't have to worry about these things."
Leavitt says they're taking this incident very seriously and will be conducting an investigation in conjunction with police.
"It's a matter of interviews, we have to talk to everyone involved and that way we can move forward in terms of figuring out if there is any wrongdoing or policy infractions," he said.
FOX 11's Amber Luckett spoke to the two students that live in that house and both said they're not responsible for the derogatory terms. Since the incident boths say they're receiving threats and have filed a report with police.
The university is in the legislative district of State Rep. Gordon Hintz, D-Oshkosh.
He issued a statement Friday saying, "Racism has no place on campus, or in our community" and "As an ally of the students harmed by these events, I hear you, and will work with you to improve our campus climate."
