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The University of Utah is investigating several reports of on-campus racist incidents, including Ku Klux Klan sightings and on-campus hate crimes.
In early October, a group of white men dressed up in hooded robes and walked into a dorm, The Salt Lake Tribune reported. In a separate incident, a Black student reported having feces smeared across their dorm door in the same building.
The incidents got attention after a student posted about them on Instagram, publicly questioning why the University hadn't investigated them. Now, school officials say the incidents are being reviewed again by campus police and residential housing leaders.
The University's Racist and Bias Incident Response Team is also looking into the incidents. According to The Tribune, the Response Team initially stated they didn't start reviewing the incidents until after the social media post.
Officials said Monday (December 20) that it's now unclear when the Team first received word about the incidents.
The Black student's dorm was reportedly violated on September 1 when they returned to their room to find a brown substance smeared across the door and a paper towel lying on the handle. The student cleaned their door with the help of staff before making a report to the RA.
Footage reviewed by the University doesn't show anyone approaching the dorm, but the school said security cameras might not cover the specific area. A similar incident was reported by another Black student soon after.
A month later, on October 1, multiple students reported seeing white men dressed in hooded robes attempting to recruit students to a white supremacist organization.
It's not the first time recruitment has been reported at the University. In February 2019, members of Identity Evropa –– an organization listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center –– placed a banner that read, "End Immigration!" on the University' campus.
Other incidents at the school have been reported including an instance where students shouted racial slurs at campus workers making a delivery to dorms. After yelling the slurs, students threw sunflower seeds and coffee pods at the workers.
In January 2020, the N-word was written into the frost on a car's windshield on campus right before MLK day.
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