Investigation ensues following student misconduct reports
Reports of hate speech and obscene imagery in a student group message on GroupMe, are being investigated following a mass email thread that started Thursday night and continued early Friday morning.
After the mass email occurred, a group chat link was sent within the university email system inviting students to join.
Within the group chat, students conversed, created polls and shared images.
The content to be investigated within the group chat involves racist, antisemitic, sexist topics, rape jokes and obscene language, in images or written text.
Images of the group chat were posted on Facebook, including the names of the students that sent the messages.
The students implicated by the images from the GroupMe chat were Noelia Mendez, Andrew Trull, Candance Crowder, Chloe Towne, Payton Fields, Chris Porter, Cole Peterson and Allyson Newsome, along with two group members with the usernames ‘wtf’ and ‘Trevor.’
Facebook posts addressing the images began appearing on the USCA Student Life Facebook page.
Kelli Richardson wrote, “Why is it 2020 and there are people making light of horrendous situations that have happened in history? … These students need to understand that their bigotry have [sic] repercussions.”
Julia Evans, a student leader, wrote “I can’t even begin to explain to you how much this disheartens me, how this hurts me, and as a student leader how this bothers me, just knowing that I have spoken with these people on a daily basis, interacted with these people and for them to think that racial comments and … memes were OK & [sic] proceed with their actions has me heated.”
A student from USC Columbia, who asked to remain anonymous, stated that “as a minority, I was very hurt from the messages and images sent in the group me last night.”
“… They were posting cocaine and Pablo Escobar memes that were very offensive to me and my people,” the student wrote.
In the comments, students debated the severity of the incident.
“Girl now you see why I always talk about transferring…I see stuff like this all the time from usca students,” wrote Dominique Parker.
Abimael Mendez, a USCA student and the brother of Noelia Mendez, argued that “it was a personal group chat (at least at the beginning) that just got out of hand. Teens being teens. Some of these jokes were a bit extreme but at the end of the day I believe they didn’t mean harm.”
Angel Daniels responded to his statement with “‘Teens being teens—is bull.” She continued, stating that the students had "insulted everything the university embraces" and that she hoped they would be punished.
Naya Jackson wrote, “So teens being teens include [sic] racism and tired Holocaust jokes? I’m so tired of this excuse.”
“People only want to talk about freedom of speech when it has to do with something racist … how convenient,” Jackson continued.
Students tagged local news sources on the Student Life page in posts directed at the group chat. Some students began tagging the parents of the those who posted the images. There were also reported threats toward the students that posted the images in the GroupMe, warning them of encounters on campus. The threats, along with the original post, have been deleted.
Chloe Towne, a sophomore involved in the Teaching Fellows program and one of the students in the group chat, posted a public apology regarding the image she sent to the GroupMe chat.
The original post that had her full apology in the comments has since been deleted, but saved records of her responses are available.
“I didn’t feel like it [original apology] was enough. It still is not good enough. There is a lot of backlash coming from these messages between some of the students. I cannot apologize enough for it. I know my words will never be enough to fix what happened. Again, I am sorry,” Towne wrote.
Tyjaha Steele replied to this comment. “Oh no I completely agree that this is not good enough. You’re grown enough to understand the effect that your words and actions will have. Your apology in most people’s eyes will not be sincere for that reason. So I thank you for the apology but I know most people will not accept it.”
Steele also expressed that, “it took you getting exposed and then attempting to get what you said removed from this main post for you to learn. But for some, I suppose that’s what it takes.”
Noelia Mendez, who is a student at USCA, also posted an apology to the USCA Student Life Facebook page.
“ I am very sorry that my actions caused people to feel unsafe, unappreciated, or offended in anyway. I never had a bad intention with them or intended to hurt anyone. I thought everyone was just laughing at them because a lot of people were sending them,” wrote Mendez.
She continued with, “I’m Hispanic. I also have African American, Taino, and Spanish heritage. I sincerely ask for your forgiveness, as a Hispanic minority myself I should have understood why posting things like this can hurt people.”
“I am truly sorry and I will grow from this experience. I hope I am not defined by this, and I promise you all, that I will do better not only for myself but for those around me and my community,” finished Mendez.
A reply to her post by Genesia Brown read, “… this is no bully comment, but I’ll speak for 89.7 % of the minority group we don’t accept an apology that was forced … don’t be “sincerely sorry” when the heat is on you. I hope the university takes the proper actions.”
The Office of the Chancellor released an official statement regarding the content of the GroupMe messages.
“The university is currently investigating an incident which started with what appears to be an email message to students about a business survey. That email appears to have prompted REPLY ALL responses, some containing inappropriate language. A GROUP ME chat was created, and inappropriate comments were shared there,” read the email.
The email addressed that while sending hate messages is not illegal, “it is reprehensible, offensive to the university community, and does not reflect our institutional environment nor our values.”
“At a time when this nation is facing a pandemic and some individuals are feeling isolated and afraid, we should be doing everything in our power to support one another.”
Hoss Brown, Assistant Director of Student Life - Diversity Initiatives, provided an official statement regarding the incident.
“We are disappointed and incensed over the recent comments posted on a private chat page by some among our student body. The language and the images shared on a non-university platform are counter to who we are at this university. Derogatory epithets do not reflect the spirit of the USC Aiken community. The university will take the maximum corrective actions allowed under the law,” he supplied.
Ahmed Samaha, vice chancellor for student affairs, also provided a statement.
“One of our four core values is collegiality, which means that ‘we value a nurturing community where people support one another, embrace diversity, and encourage mutual respect.’"
He continued, “We understand every one of us has a different perspective, a different experience, and different responses in any situation. Regardless, our guiding principle should be simple: to be kind to one another, whether in person, on social media, on email or over the phone — on campus or off.”
Samaha stated that anyone in the USCA community is “always a representative of our university. Always.”
Conduct that is derogatory toward students’ “race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, genetics, or veteran status that is sufficiently severe, pervasive, or persistent so as to interfere with or limit the ability of an individual or group to participate in or benefit from the programs, services, and activities provided by the university, is prohibited,” he wrote.
Brown wrote that the university’s approach to diversity is “inclusive” and that USCA has “one of the most diverse student bodies in our state.”
“Our core value of collegiality … underscores our commitment to diversity. Our diversity, our differences are what make us Pacer proud and Pacer strong.”
The official statement by the university closed confirming an investigation and further actions if necessary.
Editor’s Note: The decision to include all the names of students implicated in the GroupMe incident was an executive decision made by the editor-in-chief, not the writer of the this article.
Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story said that Noelia Mendez is a current staff member of the VMSS (Veteran and Military Student Success) office. Mendez was no longer employed after March 6, 2020. The name of the office was previously incorrect as well.
