Georgia State student withdraws from school over racial slur on Instagram
A Georgia State University student-athlete withdrew from school Monday after a post she allegedly made on her Instagram account that included the n-word was shared widely across social media.
Natalia Martinez, an 18-year-old former soccer player for Georgia State, allegedly made the post on her “Finsta,” a term for an alternative Instagram usually shared only with select friends, reported the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Martinez has not commented on the incident. The full context of the Instagram post is unclear.
The matter was brought to Georgia State’s attention, and the school’s athletics department released a statement Jan. 20 saying such language “was not tolerated” and that the athlete had been suspended from the soccer team.
Another Georgia State student, India Bridgeforth, created an online petition calling for the university to expel Martinez.
“As a progressive, diverse university, we GSU students feel like this sort of behavior should not be tolerated and that Natalia should be expelled from the university,” Bridgeforth wrote. “Georgia State's mission statement states that we ‘provide an outstanding education and exceptional support for students from all backgrounds,’ and these Panther values are not concurrent with the very disturbing statements made publicly by the GSU freshman and soccer player.”
Statement from GSU Athletics: pic.twitter.com/qLop6vODek
— GSU Panthers (@GSUPanthers) January 20, 2018
Bridgeforth told WSB-TV students felt the post was “kind of a slap in the face, especially considering how many students of color are here.”
The petition garnered about 700 signatures before Georgia State announced Monday that Martinez had withdrawn.
The university is aware of a social media incident involving a student-athlete. On Monday, the student withdrew from the university.
— Georgia State U. (@GeorgiaStateU) January 22, 2018
Martinez’s withdrawal is only the latest in a line of incidences where online social media posts led to dire real-world consequences for college students.
In October, a student at the University of Hartford was expelled after she bragged online about rubbing her bodily fluids on her roommates’ things. The incident at Georgia State came only days after freshman University of Alabama student Haley Barber was ejected from her sorority and expelled from the university after videos surfaced of her repeatedly making racist comments on her own ‘Finsta’ account.
In that case, an original video showed Barber explaining how she turns off water to save “poor people in Syria” and that she acts “like I love black people but I f----ng hate (n-word).”
In a later video, she vents her frustration at those who, presumably, criticized her and threatened to report her to her sorority over her use of the epithet.
“I wanted to be an Alpha Phi since I was f---ing in high school and nobody f----ing understands how much I love Alpha Phi,” she said in the video. “I don't care if it's Martin Luther King Day. I'm in the south now ... I'm from New Jersey so I can say (n-word) as much as I want.”
The videos were shared widely on Facebook on Jan. 17, prompting the University of Alabama to call the remarks “ignorant and disturbing” and the Alpha Phi sorority to expel her from the group, reported AL.com. University President Stuart R. Bell released a statement expressing his “personal disgust and disappointment” upon viewing the videos.
“The actions of this student do not represent the larger student body or the values of our University, and she 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. This is not who we are; it is unacceptable and unwelcome here at UA.”
Barber later apologized for the remarks and said she had been expelled from the university. Civil liberties groups have since urged the university to rescind the expulsion, arguing that Barber’s remarks were constitutionally protected speech.
Barber has not given made any statements about trying to rejoin the school, and has not responded to the remarks from civil liberties groups. She did, however, express her remorse in an interview with the New York Post.
“I did something really, really bad,” Barber told the paper. “I don't know what to do and I feel horrible. I'm wrong and there's just no excuse for what I did.”
This story was originally published January 23, 2018 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Georgia State student withdraws from school over racial slur on Instagram."