With outrage building around a shocking hate crime incident at San Jose University in California, the president of the college has stepped forward to offer his words.
President Mohammad Qayoumi is admitting that he “failed” the black student whose white roommates forced a bike lock around his neck and called him three-fifths of a person from August to October.
They allegedly hung the Confederate flag and wrote the N-word on a white board in their living area, and locked the young man in his room.
The roommates were subsequently charged with hate crimes and battery.
“By failing to recognize the meaning of a Confederate flag, intervene earlier to stop the abuse or impose sanctions as soon as the gravity of the behavior became clear, we failed him. I failed him,” Qayoumi stated.
The university will appoint an independent expert to lead a task force that will examine the case and propose reforms, Qayoumi said, adding that campus officials should have helped student residence hall advisors recognize signs of abuse.
The students involved have since been suspended from the school. Earlier this week, the NAACP called for the charges to be upgraded from misdemeanors to felonies.
The university is still investigating the crimes.
SOURCE: Daily Mail | PHOTO CREDIT: SJU EDU
