College swimmers are suspended from team after racial slur was scratched onto student's body

A student at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania who scratched a racial slur onto the body of the only black member of the school's men's swim team is no longer enrolled there. 

Two students at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania were initially suspended from the swim team following a report that described how the offensive slur was  scratched onto the skin of a student. 

The victim's family said a box cutter was used, while officials at the 2,200-student private liberal arts school in Gettysburg had previously described the instrument as 'a plastic or ceramic tool.'

It remains unclear how or whether the victim was restrained during the attack or if they fought back.

The perpetrator and the victim were both suspended from the swim team pending an investigation, with the perpetrator now having left the school entirely.

It is unclear whether the perpetrator was expelled or left the school voluntarily.

'The reprehensible act was committed by a fellow student-athlete, someone he considered his friend, someone whom he trusted. This student used a box cutter to etch the N-word across his chest,' a statement from the family statement said. 

The family said it was considering whether to pursue criminal charges and that it had involved the NAACP civil rights organization and filed a complaint with the Pennsylvania Commission on Human Relations.

'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 said.

The incident occurred on September 6 at a gathering of the swim team during an 'informal social gathering at an on-campus residence' and was first reported by other students from the swim team, Gettysburg College President Robert Iuliano said. 

Iuliano described feeling 'profound distress about what happened' and the impact on those long underrepresented on the campus, as well as the implications 'for a community continuing its evolving efforts to create a truly inclusive environment.'

'No matter the relationship, and no matter the motivation, there is no place on this campus for words or actions that demean, degrade, or marginalize based on one's identity and history,' he said in a statement that also cautioned against speculation 'based on fragments of information that may or may not be accurate.'

'The investigation is nearing its conclusion, and we can report now that the individual who scratched a slur onto another person is no longer enrolled at the College,' Vice President for College Life Anne Ehrlich wrote in a campus-wide email, The Gettysburgian reported. 

'This is a serious report, which is being actively assessed through the student conduct process,' the college went on. 

'At this point, the students involved are not participating in swim team activities.' 

The city's police chief, Robert Glenny Jr., said he had also contacted the college after hearing news reports and was told the victim had chosen to handle the matter through the college's internal process, despite college officials encouraging the person to take the matter to police. 

The school has so far declined to release further details, citing that process, as well as privacy laws.

'I was honestly really shocked. This school has no place for incidents like that. And when I heard about it, I just couldn't believe it,' one student said to WGAL.

'Pretty disgusted. It's just kind of sad that stuff still happens today. Even though we talk all the time about inclusion and not doing that type of stuff anymore, it's 2024. You can't be doing that stuff. It's just sad to see people still think that way and act that way. We can't have that,' added another student.

Gettysburg, best known as the site of a Civil War battle in 1863 that killed thousands and where President Abraham Lincoln gave a moving speech four months later, is about 140 miles west of Philadelphia.