Ohio University (OU) has launched an investigation after two Black students reported racist incidents occurring outside their dorm rooms.

OU freshman Naomi Hamner reported a derogatory handwritten note taped to a black trash bag near her dorm.

Disturbed by the scene, Hamner went to Twitter to share her disbelief.

“A trash bag with a note reading, “Trash n–ger bitch,” she tweeted and explained to her followers it was left two doors down from her room in Sargent Hall.

In an interview with WOUB, Hamner expressed the fear that came over her when she saw the racist act on her dorm floor.

“It was kind of a scary moment, I can’t lie, because I have never dealt with anything like this before, and quite honestly, I never thought I would have to deal with something like this,” Hamner said. “So after finding out it was meant for me, it kind of made my heart drop because I’m like, wow, people really think of me like this.”

The second incident took place at James Hall in front of Brown’s door room. The resident adviser, Christopher Brown, tweeted a photo of his entryway covered in urine and bundles of paper towels. Brown reported a white student urinated at his doorway, which ruined some of his belongings.

“My name is Christopher Brown, an Industrial Engineering student who also serves as a resident adviser (RA) March 21 at 2:30 a.m. I was woken to a white resident urinating outside of my door I am the only African American RA on this floor,” Brown tweeted. 

Being the only Black adviser on his floor, Brown expressed the mental challenges he’s endured while attending the PWI.

“Going to a PWI has been nothing short of a mental battle; I’m in classes every day with people who look nothing like me, and now I have to deal with a Hate crime where I lay my head at night,” Brown wrote.

“When I confronted the resident, he ran and changed his clothes, I had to choose chasing him or grabbing paper towels before another humans Urine made its way to my Xbox (this is where the Xbox layed for reference), which also is broken now because of this act,” he continued in his thread of tweets.

Brown is asking for financial help via Cash app donations to purchase a new Xbox.

 

According to The ROOT, The student who urinated on Brown’s door and Xbox was identified as D1 athlete Brady Linkel. Linkel has been charged with criminal mischief by the Ohio University Police Department. 

Linkel will appear in Athens County Municipal Court on March 31.

University spokesperson Carly Leatherwood shared The Ohio University Office of Equity and Civil Rights Compliance is assessing both incidents and does not believe they are tied to one another.

“Ohio University categorically rejects these types of hateful acts, which are anathema to our shared values of inclusion and trust. # We stand in solidarity with those who were directly affected, and incidents like this ultimately impact all of us,” OU said in a statement on the school’s website.

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