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University of St. Thomas Investigating Hate Crime

ST. PAUL, Minn.

School officials were investigating after a hate crime was reported on the campus of the University of St. Thomas.

Sophomore Malaika Smith said that on Tuesday morning, and again that evening, she found a racist message written on her dorm room door. She also found a racist note in the dorm she shares with two other Black students.

“I just expect in this day and age that people would be more informed on diversity and not be so ignorant,” Smith said.

Campus administrators have sent an e-mail alert to students and staff, and also held an emergency meeting with top officials and students.

St. Thomas spokesman Jim Winterer said safety officials are reviewing records to see who was in the building during the incidents.

“It isn’t just a little thing you write,” he said. “These kinds of crimes, they thrive in secrecy. You have to talk about them and you can’t pretend they didn’t happen.”

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