Two University of Oklahoma students have voluntarily decided to permanently leave the school after being seen in a racist video in which one of the girls smeared Black paint over her face while saying a racial slur.
According to Buzzfeed, the video went viral on Friday after another student shared it on Twitter. In the video, a white woman can be seen painting her face Black as her friend laughs in the background.
“Stop! You’ve got too much. That’s paint, not a face mask!” the friend exclaims amidst giggles.
Then the camera flips, showing the two women laughing as the one wearing Blackface quips,” I am a n–ger.”
Classy.
Some girls that attend OU thought it would be funny (especially Olivia Urban and Francis Ford) to put black paint on their face and say “I am a nigger” @UofOklahoma #whatareyougoingtodo ???? pic.twitter.com/ccWGnG4L7N
— gabby (@GabbyHahaa) January 18, 2019
The university quickly blasted the video and launched an investigation the same day.
It turned out that the student who recorded and posted the video was a member of the university’s chapter of Theta Gamma Delta Delta Delta sorority, which on Saturday confirmed that they had expelled the student.
By Monday, both women had decided to leave the school (pity, they didn’t put as much thought into the video.)
University President James Gallogly said that officials were not able to expel the women because the video was recorded off campus, creating “legal boundaries” in how the university could respond, nonetheless, Gallogly offered blunt criticism to the women’s actions.
“This type of behavior is not welcomed here and is condemned in the strongest terms by me and by our university,” he said at a press conference, blasting the Snapchat video as “demeaning.”
The university is still investigating the case to see if there may be another student involved in the recording, the president noted.
“It very clearly is racist,” he said Monday. “It’s on its face racist and we should call it what it is.”
This is not the first time OU Greek life has been in the national news for racist behavior, as the university’s Black Student Association pointed out in their statement, which noted they were “not surprised” by the Blackface video. In 2015, members of the school shut down its chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity after its members were seen in a video recording chanting a racist slogan while on a bus.
“You can hang them from a tree, but he can never sign with me, there will never be a n—-r at SAE,” the frat members chanted.
Two students were expelled as a result of that video.
In his Monday press conference, Gallogly acknowledged that the school is in need of “systematic” change, given the racist incidents that the school has grappled with over the past few years.
“More needs to be done,” he said. “I heard them. More will be done.”
Gallogly has accepted an invitation to speak to students at a rally against racism which is being organized by the Black Student Association, Buzzfeed notes.
