George Washington University Clears Students in Alleged Racist Photo, but Institutes Diversity Training Anyway

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George Washington University, located in Washington, D.C., recently instituted diversity training for all incoming students and a new “bias reporting” system (i.e. report to administrators of any potentially offensive behavior or imagery) as a result of an offensive photo.

On Snapchat, a social media platform, a photo emerged of two sorority sisters holding a banana with an offensive caption, “Izzy: ‘I’m 1/16 black’.” However, after an investigation by the university, the caption and the photo were not done at the same time, meaning the two sorority students were not at fault for allegedly racist content as they did not take the photo in order to post the caption.

Still, though the students were cleared, the university instituted mandatory diversity training and other measures to appease the student body.