COLUMBIA, S.C. — On the first day of the spring semester and a day after the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, the University of South Carolina is investigating racist fliers that were found on campus.
Students reached out to WLTX-TV, Columbia, S.C., on Tuesday morning upset about discovering the fliers at a building that houses the university’s African-American studies program.
The text of the fliers contained language that was intended to be offensive to African-Americans and blamed black people for the election of Donald Trump as president. The fliers, inside Gambrell Hall, were beside a bulletin board that lists African-American studies faculty, and placed over a collage of famous African-Americans.
The university said similar fliers were found at two buildings.
Eyewitnesses told the school they saw a man in the area at the time the fliers were discovered. Video surveillance also captured an image of a man, and campus police are working to identify the person.
Officials aren’t sure whether he had any connection to the university.
“This morning, fliers bearing racist language were discovered in several buildings on campus,” the university said in a statement. “This is unacceptable and inconsistent with our institutional values. At U of SC, we strive to create a campus built on the tenets of the Carolinian Creed, inclusivity and respect for all. These racist messages run contrary to who we are as Gamecocks and have no place at Carolina. University officials are continuing to investigate the matter.”
Some students who saw the fiyers posted pictures to social media. Collectively, those posts were shared thousands of times.