NORMAN - University of Oklahoma president David Boren said an OU student has been temporarily suspended, pending an investigation into accusations of racism.
The University of Pennsylvania said in a statement Friday that several of its students were targeted in a racist cyber attack that appeared to have originated from Oklahoma, according to a report by KFOR TV in Oklahoma City.
The report said officials at Penn, located in Philadelphia, say a tweet on Twitter targeted "a number of Black freshman students at Penn who had been added to a racist Group Me account."
When learning of the report, Boren released the following statement:
"The University of Oklahoma has made it clear that we will not tolerate racism or hate speech that constitutes a threat to our campus or others. We have a record of taking swift action once all of the facts are known. I have ordered the appropriate officials at our university to open immediate inquiry to determine the extent of involvement by a University of Oklahoma student in this matter. The university has already determined from its preliminary inquiry that there's a basis for a temporary suspension of the student under our student code while we continue to gather all of the facts. That suspension of the student is effective immediately. It would appear this matter did not originate at the University of Oklahoma, but started elsewhere. This matter originally surfaced from messages to students at the University of Pennsylvania. We are alerting the University of Pennsylvania of our findings."
Boren did not identify the suspended student. OU press secretary Corbin Wallace said he had no more information other than Boren's released statement.
Penn officials said the posts by the OU student contained "violent, racist and thoroughly repugnant images and messages," KFOR reported.
Penn officials also said their investigators are in the process of finding the exact source of the messages. They said the material was vile and offensive and that they are angry and saddened by its content, according to KFOR.
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