Police contradict accusations of racial slurs at Mizzou

Racial tensions at Mizzou made headlines again when a group of black students alleged they received racially-based abuse, but the police report paints a more complicated picture.

According to a statement released by Mizzou’s Legion of Black Collegians (LBC), members of the group were walking on campus when they were “verbally assaulted in an obscene manner with regard to their racial identity” and later called the n-word by a white female student walking with a group of other white students.

This led to the Delta Upsilon fraternity being placed on suspension by its national leadership and by Mizzou, The New York Daily News reports.

Members of the LBC held an emergency town hall, during which university leaders and former students alike criticized the actions of Delta Upsilon.

LBC President Shelby Anderson also issued a call for those engaging in hate speech to be dismissed, “because that’s not okay,” and adds that the group realizes this extreme, but “the way we felt last night was extreme. The way we felt consistently in the past is extreme, so we’re going to take extreme measures.”

However, the University of Missouri Police Department released its official report on the incident Thursday, and not one of the responding officers reporting hearing disparaging remarks from any member of Delta Upsilon, although they did make note of racially-charged remarks coming from members of the LBC.

An officer reports hearing shouts of “Uncle Tom” and “sellout,” as well as “Fucking crackers” and “Fucking rednecks” directed at Delta Upsilon. The same officer says he heard comments implying that police officers only shoot black people and that the black students should not talk to them.

Another officer wrote that while he did not hear hostile remarks from Delta Upsilon, the LBC members and another witness indicated that they did.

The report also shows that as officers attempted to tone down the confrontation, things only escalated. One officer says he could not hear what was being said by those in the Delta Upsilon house, but LBC members said they were being taunted, and when someone in the house started playing loud rap music, they interpreted it as an attempt to mock them.

The officer also says someone in the LBC crowd grew agitated, telling Delta Upsilon, “Keep talking, we’ll burn this motherfucker down.”

Mizzou interim Chancellor Hank Foley was unequivocal in his condemnation of the fraternity in response to the initial reports, stating, “we have zero tolerance for actions like this; if any student is found in violation of the Student Code and/or the University’s nondiscrimination policies, they will be subject to discipline, up to and including suspension and/or expulsion.”

Campus Reform has reached out to the Chancellor’s office to ask whether Foley has any additional comment in response to the contradictory police report, but had not received a response by press time.

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