College Finds Student Carved Racial Slur Into Another's Chest

A Pennsylvania college's investigation has found that a student carved a racial slur onto the chest of a teammate who was the only nonwhite person at their swim team's informal gathering. "The reprehensible act was committed by a fellow student-athlete, someone he considered his friend, someone whom he trusted," the victim's family said in a statement. The family said a box cutter was used "to etch the N-word across his chest, Reuters reports, while Gettysburg College officials said "a plastic or ceramic tool" was used. An administrator sent a school-wide email saying the attacker, whom the school did not identify, is no longer enrolled without saying whether he was expelled.

The school newspaper, the Gettysburgian, published a statement by the victim's family saying it came forward to "add clarity, not stir controversy as we struggle to comprehend the nightmare that haunts our son and our family." Gettysburg College said it's working with the unnamed victim and his family to decide what's next, per ABC News. The family said it reserves the right to seek local, state, and federal criminal charges; the local police chief said the department has not received a complaint in the case.

The family said it has filed a complaint with the Pennsylvania Commission on Human Relations and has involved local and state chapters of the NAACP. "Our son did not choose to have a hateful racial slur scrawled across his chest, but he has chosen not to return the hate," the family statement said. "It is just the beginning of the school year, and no one should fear being in college," the college's president said. (More racial slurs stories.)