|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
November 19, 2005Two had no connection to slur caseTRAVERSE CITY -- A Northwestern Michigan College official said he erred when he tied two female students to racial graffiti scrawled on a black student's dorm-room door.Chuck Shreve, dean of student services, said the two female students were not involved in the incident and did not do anything to lead to it. Shreve said Friday he "shouldn't have" made comments this week that college investigations "revealed a connection of some sort" with a man who allegedly admitted he wrote the slur. He said the two students had not been getting along with the black student. The disagreements are not believed to have anything to do with race and "did not lead to the writing of the slur," he said Friday. The college banned non-student Brian Helmsley from both of the college's dorms for more than a year, saying he admitted to writing the phrase "African Tribal Bitch" in permanent marker on the door of Krystel Jackson, 18. Students Elizabeth Feister, 19, of Cadillac; and Kristen Hunter, 19, of Leslie, also had been sanctioned, but Shreve said that's for "creating an environment not conducive to learning and getting along." The girls were ordered to move from West Hall, where they and Jackson now live, to the college's other dorm, East Hall. "That doesn't make us very happy," Hunter said Friday. Both of the students denied any involvement in the slur incident and said they thought the sanctions hurt their reputations by implying their involvement. Hunter this week called the graffiti "disgusting," and Feister said "We understand why she (Jackson) is upset." Hunter and Feister appealed the college's decision to move them to the other dorm, but the director of campus security turned down the appeal, Shreve said. Feister and Hunter, as well as Jackson, all said the three have had disagreements. The disagreements are not believed to be racially motivated and did not lead to the racial slur, Shreve said. Feister and Hunter live across the hall and down a couple of doors from Jackson. Jackson said the graffiti she found Nov. 2 was the first time she had experienced any kind of racial epithet here. The students have until Nov. 28 to appeal to Shreve. Feister said Friday she does not know if they will do so. See Related Story:
|
|
