The University of Maryland, College Park student who wrote a racist, sexist email that circulated on social media this month will not return to campus "by mutual consent" of his family and the school, a university official announced.
Vice President for Student Affairs Linda Clement said the university is investigating "the hateful email" allegedly written in January 2014 by a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity. In the email to students, she laid out several steps the university plans to take to "rise above hate and bias" and "maintain a culture of respect, equity and inclusion on our campus."
The offensive email went viral online. It included racial and ethnic slurs to refer to women and disparaged sexual consent. It was one of several recent Greek life scandals in Maryland and across the country, including the alleged rape of a 16-year-old girl at a Johns Hopkins off-campus fraternity event last fall and an Oklahoma University fraternity caught on video this month, chanting about lynching.
Attempts to reach the College Park student have been unsuccessful.
The University of Maryland's Kappa Sigma chapter will be required to undergo mandatory diversity training, and the fraternity has pledged $500 to the Office of Diversity & Inclusion for "diversity programming throughout the Greek community," Clement said.
Beginning in the fall, all fraternities and sororities must participate in sexual assault prevention, multicultural competency, drug and alcohol education, and hazing prevention programs, Clement said. In addition, the Department of Fraternity and Sorority Life has applied for a grant to hire a graduate student to work specifically on diversity education with the university's Greek chapters.
Student groups will continue to host forums on safety, racism, sexual assault, consent and respect, she said, and the university will create a multicultural student advisory group, which will counsel President Wallace D. Loh on diversity issues.
"Our diversity is a great strength of our country and our university, and it should be celebrated," Clement said. "The discussion on this critical issue has begun. Now it's up to all of us to keep it going."
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