The University of South Carolina at Columbia released a statement on Tuesday condemning racist fliers that were plastered over photos of black historical figures displayed outside the department of African-American studies, The Post and Courier reports.
One flier refers to President Trump: “You stupid monkeys handed Trump the White House the minute you handed Hillary the nomination!” According to the university’s statement, an investigation is underway.
“These racist messages run contrary to who we are as Gamecocks and have no place at Carolina,” the statement continues, quoting a spokesman. “University officials are continuing to investigate the matter.”
A student, Leland Williams Jr., told the newspaper that the fliers were found at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, and quickly circulated through group messages. Soon after administrators were informed of the fliers, the university said on its official Twitter account: “These messages absolutely do not reflect what we believe as Carolinians. Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We have forwarded to university administrators for investigation.”
Mr. Williams said he wanted the institution to follow through on its promise of an investigation, the newspaper reported. Two months ago, students found fliers saying “it’s okay to be white,” the slogan of a popular white-supremacist website, posted in campus buildings, and the university started an investigation in November.
“It kind of feels like USC doesn’t care about us, honestly,” Mr. Williams said. “It keeps happening in these small little instances, and it’s turning into something like this — we’re being called monkeys.”