SUNY-ESF expels student involved in ‘abhorrent racist behavior’ on social media
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Editor’s note: This article contains details about the usage of racial slurs.
UPDATED: Jan. 24, 2022 at 4:40 p.m.
SUNY-ESF has expelled a student for “a grotesque and violent demonstration of abhorrent racist behavior” in a video circulated on social media, SUNY-ESF President Joanie Mahoney said in an email to the community.
Though the video was filmed outside of Onondaga County, the student was still in violation of SUNY-ESF’s Code of Student Conduct, according to the email.
A video originally posted on Snapchat shows two white people shooting at a tree after one of them said, “Ladies and gentlemen, this is what we do to (N-word)s.” It was screen-recorded and circulated on other social media platforms since Jan. 17, Martin Luther King Day.
Neither person in the video responded to requests for comment.
One of the people in the video is enrolled at Bainbridge-Guilford High School in Chenango County, New York, according to the school’s 2020 yearbook. Timothy Ryan, the superintendent of Bainbridge-Guilford Central School District, said the school district cannot provide details on the investigation, citing students’ right to privacy.
Ryan said that his office has been receiving emails containing links to the video since Jan. 17 from both current and former students, as well as others. The school district has zero tolerance to racism and is actively dealing with the incident, he said.
“As soon as we learned of the video being posted, the district jumped on it immediately and aggressively,” Ryan said. The case will be moving forward with guidance from the school attorney and administrators on the board of education, he said.
Gov. Kathy Hochul tweeted Thursday about the incident and expressed her disgust for the SUNY-ESF student’s behavior.
“New York State has zero tolerance for acts of hate and intolerance, and any attempts at causing fear or threats of violence against any individual or community,” Hochul said.
I am disgusted by the racist behavior displayed on social media from a @sunyesf student.
Let me be clear: New York State has zero tolerance for acts of hate and intolerance, and any attempts at causing fear or threats of violence against any individual or community.
— Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) January 21, 2022
SUNY Interim Chancellor Deborah Stanley commended Mahoney in a release Thursday.
“I know that all of us in the SUNY community of students, faculty, and staff stand with SUNY ESF in this difficult time in sending a strong message that these disgusting displays of racism and hate will always be met with immediate response of condemnation and unity, and have no place on our campuses or anywhere in our society,” the statement said.
Managing editor Mandy Kraynak contributed to reporting for this article.
This post has been updated with additional reporting.
