"We won't tolerate it": SOU President reacts to racism inside dorm

ASHLAND, Ore. — After students at Southern Oregon University voiced concern about racist incidents targeting minority students, SOU’s President spoke out Friday afternoon.

Members of the university’s Black Student Union said one of their members was targeted recently when the n-word was written on their dorm room door.

“There’s a lot of anger over why is this the first time we’re hearing about it,” said the school’s Native American Student Union Co-Chair Jacklyn Holzhauser. “Why isn’t this transparent. Why can we not be notified of stuff like this,” she said, “especially in the current climate when there’s a lot of hate and discrimination going around. It makes us feel unsafe being here.”

“We do not see these kinds of incidents frequently,” said SOU President Linda Schott. “We’re appalled that this has occurred and we won’t tolerate it,” she said. Schott said the university has a commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. She went on to say serious actions like this require thorough investigations.

“Our process is that we do the investigation, and we calibrate our response and our campus notices to what we’re finding throughout the investigation,” Schott said. “We balance the need of campus to know with the privacy of the individual who has been impacted, as well as we take seriously the need to protect them from potential retaliation.”

Schott said the school has a bias response team that’s trained to evaluate these kinds of incidents which is investigating. The university said if there is ever an incident where students’ safety is at risk they will always send out an alert.