Minnesota community members and students have recently voiced concerns surrounding a video that was posted on social media by two University of Minnesota Duluth students.

The video in question depicts one student recording the video and yelling a racial slur, while the other student smashes and jumps on a sign reading “Black Lives Matter.”

The video, originally posted to Snapchat, gained significant traction after 19-year-old Yaach Chuol, a high school classmate of the students in the video, posted a screen recording of the video on his Instagram account on Sept. 7. At the time this article was posted, Chuol’s Instagram post had nearly 24,000 views and 240 comments — most of which condemned the actions of the students and called for UMD to take disciplinary action. The video was largely circulated by others as well. 

“I was disappointed, but not surprised,” Chuol said in regards to the video.

These two students have a pattern of racist behavior stemming back to high school, according to Chuol. Since posting the video on his Instagram, Chuol said that multiple people have come forward to share their experiences being discriminated against by the two students. 

Ravi Inema, another high school classmate of the students in question, said that while he did not experience the same pattern of racism from the students, he was aware of their past behaviors. 

“I was just in shock,” Inema said. “I felt fooled.”

UMD Office of Admissions gave no comment on the incident, stating that they are only authorized to handle issues with incoming students, not current students.  

On social media, some community members are calling for the expulsion of the students allegedly involved. Lisa Erwin, Vice Chancellor for Student Life and Dean of Students at UMD, said she wouldn’t be commenting to The Bark on this specific incident “at all,” citing university policies concerning student education records and privacy. 

She did, however, acknowledge that she is aware of the incident and is “concerned about racist acts on social media.”

The policy states that “the University shall maintain the privacy of student education records. Student education records shall be disclosed only to the student, to persons within the University with a legitimate educational interest, to persons authorized by the student to receive the student's education records and to persons authorized to receive education records without the student's consent.”

Erwin explained that in situations of hate speech, typically disciplinary action cannot be taken by UMD. She noted that the University of Minnesota’s student conduct code does not prohibit hate speech. 

The American Civil Liberties Union describes the difficulties of regulating speech on college campuses. “The First Amendment to the Constitution protects speech no matter how offensive its content,” their website says, and “determining when conduct crosses [the] line [of targeted harassment] is a legal question that requires examination on a case-by-case basis.”

Erwin shared that campus frustration led to the creation of the Bulldog Engagement Network to handle issues of hate speech and other acts that may bring harm to the UMD campus, but do not directly violate the Student Conduct Code. 

“As a campus we are really emphasizing … creating a safe and welcoming environment for everyone that comes to UMD, especially our students,” Erwin said.

Records of reported incidents at UMD are available online, but end with the year 2019. Erwin attributed this lack of updated information to COVID-19 related issues. 

The Bulldog Engagement Network addresses reports, such as ones made regarding the video, and works with students to find restorative justice solutions.

Chuol said he would like to see more done by the university regarding the alleged actions of the students in the video. “I don’t think that they should be going to school here anymore … I think that the school should be doing all that they can to make sure they don’t come here,” he said.

Anna Lo, a senior at UMD, also shared the video on her social media and was one of the students to speak up against the actions shown in the video. 

“If UMD really cares about taking action against racism at college campuses, they should do more,” Lo said. “All I hear are words coming from [administration]. It’s extremely frustrating that [they] can outright ignore students, but yet plaster Asians on the hallways to show diversity on the campus. If the system wants to do that, they need to support all minorities outright and not just by a few meaningless words.”

Lo said that she has experienced racism throughout her time at the college, including an incident her freshman year when racial slurs were said on a bus on the way to a UMD football game and Bentleyville tour. 

When asked about the video, Susana Pelayo-Woodward, the Director of UMD’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion, said it was “very upsetting.” 

Pelayo-Woodward called the students’ behavior a violation of the community and the campus, describing the video as anti-black, racist and harmful to others. She believes that the students were immediately identified and that action was taken by the university, but she was unable to confirm due to aforementioned privacy restrictions. 

UMD Chancellor Lendley Black addressed the issue of the video at the faculty welcome last week. 

“There are times when members of our campus community say and do racist things,” Black said. “They come along with UMD being a public university and we are, after all, open to all people and as you may know we had another racist incident posted on social media just last week. It was a disgusting image. It was not acceptable and appropriate action has been taken. We must practice bystander intervention and we must feel empowered to report unacceptable behavior when we see it.”

Black did not directly respond to The Bark’s requests for comment on the incident. However, Lynne Williams, the director of UMD’s University Marketing and Public Relations Office commented, encouraging all students to report incidents so appropriate action can be taken. She quoted an email sent by Black in July addressing racial injustice and outlining seven action steps designed to implement change at UMD.

According to Black, each action step has been assigned to a campus leader and will be given timelines and assessment measures. Erwin stated that progress with implementing the steps has been slower than usual due to COVID-19 restrictions.

“It feels like we have the support of the public, but I feel like the school should do more,” Inema said. “That shouldn’t be tolerated, because on your guys’ front page of UMD Duluth it says, ‘We should be the act for change,’ and I feel like they should do something.”

The students who allegedly participated in the video did not respond to a request for comment.

To report an incident visit the UMD Campus Climate website.

Hunter Dunteman contributed to this article.