‘I thought it was disgusting’: University investigates apparent racist incident during comedy act
Bryant University officials are reviewing what happened during an "open mic" stand-up comedy routine last week.
Officials at a university in Rhode Island are reviewing the circumstances around a stand-up comedy event during which a student reportedly made racially biased comments aimed at black people.A video of the Bryant University incident surfaced on Facebook, and the student appears to comment that black people beat their children.“White people, we can’t really tell black people what to do any more,” the student says at one point. “We used to be able to do that. But we can’t anymore … I’m just jealous about the fact that black people are allowed to physically assault their children and I’m not.”Several students approach the stage and the routine comes to an abrupt end.In a statement to the community on Friday, Bryant University President Ronald Machtley acknowledged “the comedian was offensive to many, himself included.” The university’s Bias Incident Committee was sent a video of the incident and other information and the group intended to hold a meeting.“President Machtley has congratulated the students who intervened and prevented, in an appropriate way, the student from continuing his offensive performance,” the statement said.In a follow-up statement to the community that afternoon, Machtley said the committee had met.“Based on the video clip available, the committee determined that a bias incident did occur,” the statement said. “However, additional information on the incident and statements made beyond the video clip is still being collected and reviewed. As such, the committee will continue to hear witness testimony on Monday to understand the total context of the performance, in order to determine the full magnitude of the bias incident.”The committee intends to “submit its findings” to the university’s vice president of student affairs and vice president of human resources to to review student conduct.“I thought it was disgusting,” John Martin, a student at Bryant, told WPRI. “There’s no place at Bryant for that stuff and nobody feels like that. There’s just one bad egg that makes us look bad.”
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