INDIANAPOLIS — A janitor whom a university official had accused of racial harassment for reading a historical book about the Ku Klux Klan on his break has gotten an apology — months later — from the school.
Dr. Charles Bantz, chancellor at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, apologized to Keith John Sampson in a letter dated Friday, saying the school is committed to free expression.
“I can candidly say that we regret this situation took place,” Bantz wrote.
Sampson’s troubles began last year when a co-worker complained after seeing him reading a book titled “Notre Dame vs. the Klan: How the Fighting Irish Defeated the Ku Klux Klan.”
The book’s cover features white-robed Klansmen and burning crosses against a backdrop of Notre Dame’s campus. It recounts a 1924 riot between Notre Dame students and the Klan in which the students from the Catholic university prevailed.
Sampson, a 58-year-old White janitor and student majoring in communication studies, said he tried to explain that the book was a historical account.
“I have an interest in American history,” Sampson said. “I was trying to educate myself.”
