A University of Alabama student repeatedly used a racial slur in videos posted on social media, prompting immediate condemnation from school officials and her apparent expulsion Wednesday.
University President Stuart R. Bell called the videos “highly offensive and deeply hurtful,” and said the student, Harley Barber, is “no longer enrolled here.”
“We hold our students to much higher standards, and we apologize to everyone who has seen the videos and been hurt by this hateful, ignorant and offensive behavior,” Bell said in a statement.
The videos, in which Barber repeatedly uses a racial slur for African-Americans, were first posted on a private Instagram account. But recordings of the posts became widely shared on social media and brought to the attention of school administrators.
Barber told the New York Post that her actions were wrong.
“I don’t know what to do and I feel horrible,” the paper quoted her as saying. “There’s just no excuse for what I did.”
Barber did not respond to a request for comment The Associated Press sent to her university email account. The 19-year-old told the Post she had been expelled from the university and was returning home to New Jersey.
