The University of New Hampshire is currently in hot water after footage from its Alpha Phi Sorority went viral, with the clip in question capturing a handful of white female students celebrating Kanye West’s 2005 hit “Gold Digger”—including openly rapping the N-word without any hesitation.
According to TMZ, the sorority will not be punished for the controversial behavior, with a representative from UNH sharing that the sorority sisters showed poor judgment, but that the school is not investigating the matter. The university rep also added that the college has a strong commitment to the First Amendment, but also believes “in the right of every member of our community to feel safe and respected.”
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Understandably, the entire situation has sparked outrage, with fellow students and folks from outside of UNH’s community alike sounding off in the comments section on the post, calling for the school to take action and hold the girls accountable for perpetuating racism.
“This isn’t about freedom of speech, it’s about making the 92% of white students at UNH more socially aware so that people of color feel more comfortable, welcome and safe at UNH,” one user wrote in the comments’ section. “It is literally up to you, the students, to make sure UNH is more welcoming. It doesn’t matter how you feel about this song or these girls singing it if you’re white, it matters how POC view UNH based off the examples set by its students.”
Originally, the clip was uploaded to “All Eyes on UNH,” an anti-racism student group’s Facebook, with the intention of calling out the “ignorant and insensitive” behavior of their fellow students and demanding that their school do better in combating racism. It has since been viewed over 50,000 times and counting.
“The first step is addressing willful ignorance. #RacistUNH,” the post reads.
It has been reported that the girls caught on camera have since apologized.