Michigan State University has said it will not discipline a sophomore who made a number of racist comments on social media.
Students at the East Lansing college expressed outrage over the decision by administrators not to respond to posts by Jillian Kirk, who tweeted ‘GOD BLESS AMERICA, F*** THE BLACKS!’
In another tweet, she wrote: ‘F*** n*****s I’m so over it.’
Kirk was also seen on a Snapchat post using the N-word repeatedly while out with friends.
The tweets were first reported by the Michigan State student-run campus newspaper The Tab.
Michigan State University has said it will not discipline a sophomore who made a number of racist comments on social media. Jillian Kirk (above) used the N-word in a number of social media posts on Snapchat and Twitter
Students at the East Lansing college expressed outrage over the decision by administrators not to respond to posts by Jillian Kirk, who tweeted ‘GOD BLESS AMERICA, F*** THE BLACKS!’
In the above Snapchat post, she is seen with a piece of paper attached to her forehead. A racial slur is written on the note
Kirk’s Twitter account has since been deleted.
The racist social media posts went viral and spurred calls from students for the university to take action against Kirk.
Miyanna Fowlkes, a freshman at MSU, posted the racist tweets and Snapchat videos. They were shared thousands of times.
But the university released a statement on Wednesday saying that while it does not approve of the posts, ‘we do not get to control what every member of our community says.’
The racist social media posts went viral and spurred calls from students for the university to take action against Kirk
Miyanna Fowlkes, a freshman at MSU, posted the racist tweets and Snapchat videos. They were shared thousands of times
Kirk emailed MSU’s student newspaper a statement saying she was sorry for the posts. ‘Nothing was meant to cause pain to anyone, but I realize what was in those posts is hurtful and disrespectful,’ she wrote
Fowlkes slammed the university’s response, saying it was granting a license to slur minorities and that the university ‘doesn’t care about the black community.’
‘Actions like this without consequences are unacceptable because people begin to realize nothing will happen to them,’ said Fowlkes.
‘I think everyone who said something hateful should receive some [type of] consequence – if not MSU is falling complacent to racism.
‘MSU is legally allowed to kick her out but they chose not to.’
Kirk emailed The Tab a statement saying she was sorry for the posts.
‘I apologize for the inappropriate social media posts I made,’ she wrote.
‘Nothing was meant to cause pain to anyone, but I realize what was in those posts is hurtful and disrespectful.
‘What was said in these posts is not how I feel, but I know I need to learn how to be more inclusive and respectful to diversity of people and diversity of thought.
‘It is my goal to work on my behaviors.
‘The recent events have shown me how insensitive I was.
‘Again, I want to apologize for my actions and to those I have hurt.’