In a tweet from Dec. 7, a Twitter user called out the University of Missouri after screenshots revealing a Mizzou student’s hate speech surfaced on social media. Since then, scores of people have demanded the school take action, however, the learning institution has allowed the young woman to remain enrolled.

The original post, which has nearly 2,000 retweets, reads, “@Mizzou THIS is what’s happening on your campus as we speak. She is allowed to freely roam campus while spewing racial slurs, being openly transphobic and denying allegations. Black Mizzou and POC on this campus are making a call-to-action that this is [investigated] IMMEDIATELY.” The tweet alleges the student is self-proclaimed “pro-life” and “unapologetically conservative” Meg Miller. It contains a screenshot of a Snapchat conversation showing the woman smiling as the photo reads, “If they would have killed [four] more n**gers, we would have had the whole week off,” followed by several laughing emojis.

It appears Miller was referencing Martin Luther King, Jr. Day being observed as a federal holiday. On January 24, 1986, The Washington Post published an article stating: “On Monday, the first federal holiday marking the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., WWDC disc jockey Doug Tracht, otherwise known as ‘The Greaseman,’ suggested on the air that if the assassination of a Black leader was cause for a day off, then killing ‘four more’ would result in getting the rest of the week off.” The University of Missouri has confirmed that the offensive post was made by one of its students.

Yesterday (Jan. 9), university President Mun Y. Choi gave an update. “Dear campus community, in December, we learned of a racist Snapchat message that was sent by a student to her friend. We condemned it immediately,” the open letter began. Many found what followed to be alarming. “Upon review, the student’s racial slur was expressed in a direct message to her friend and was not communicated in a way that harassed any individual. In that context, the speech is protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.” The Mizzou president added, “The university has no grounds to discipline the student who sent the message.”

One person tweeted, in part, “Dear Mizzou… This is completely unacceptable. Excellence? Respect? Responsibility? Diversity? HELLOO?? I stand with the community demanding action.” Choi ended his statement by inviting those wanting to express their concerns to contact him at [email protected].

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