Nate Panza, an incoming football recruit at Cornell University who was removed from the college team after he was seen on video using a racial slur, won’t be attending the institution anymore, a university spokesperson told The Cornell Daily Sun.
The spokesperson declined to clarify whether Panza’s admission offer was rescinded or if he voluntarily chose to withdraw. Panza was set to be a student at Cornell’s Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management.
After the video came to light, several Cornell students, including Cornell Students for Black Lives, urged the university to take action. A petition calling for Panza’s expulsion gained close to 500 signatories.
“Expel freshman Nate Panza over his public use of the N-word on social media,” read the petition. “With only 6,701 single and double occupancy rooms, 153 isolation beds, and 366 available classrooms, we must be more judicious than ever before as to how that space is allocated, and to whom we extend the privilege of occupying that space. Here is a simple yet elegant opportunity to reduce the load on our system by 1.”
Panza, from Morristown, New Jersey, used the offensive word in a Snapchat video filmed by incoming University of Richmond student Adam Giaquinto who then also used the N-word.
Days after the video was posted, the University of Richmond announced that it is rescinding Giaquinto’s admission.