UW-Eau Claire suspends five football players for racist Snapchat conversation that used KKK image

Five football players at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire were suspended from the team and under investigation by the school Wednesday after screenshots of a racist conversation between them was circulated by students.

The first message in the Snapchat conversation refers to a meeting of BME, the university's Black Male Empowerment club, and includes a black-and-white photo of Ku Klux Klan members burning a cross.

"For all who can't make the BME meeting, (name of student) and I are holding WME tonight at 7," the message reads — presumably playing off the acronym, replacing black with white.

Another message referred to one of the football players as "the grand wizard."

Chancellor Jim Schmidt told the Journal Sentinel on Wednesday that he was "thoroughly disgusted, disappointed and angered," noting the incident especially impacts communities of color.

"These symbols and pictures and comments harken back to some of the darkest days in our country's history," Schmidt said.

He said the actions will not be tolerated and that he anticipated the investigation would be concluded quickly. Asked what repercussions the students could face, Schmidt said the university's dean of students had a range of options. He declined to be specific.

Using the UW-Eau Claire student directory, the Journal Sentinel emailed all but one of the students named in the conversation. That one was not listed. None of the students responded. Head football coach Wesley Beschorner also did not respond to a request for an interview.

At this point, the Journal Sentinel is not publishing the players' names because the university has not identified who has been suspended and is under investigation. 

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The incident comes as universities nationwide grapple with racist or discriminatory episodes.

This week, security was tightened at Syracuse University in New York after a white supremacist manifesto was posted on a campus forum. It was the latest in a string of racist and anti-Semitic episodes at the university. 

Earlier this month, students at Salisbury University in Maryland called for more security after offensive graffiti was found repeatedly inside a campus building.

There have been other incidents in Wisconsin as well. 

At UW-Eau Claire, Kayde Langer, a junior who is affiliated with the Red Lake Chippewa Nation of Ojibwe, found a racist message written on a paper cutout she had hanging on her dorm room door. "Go back to the res," the message read, followed by a slur aimed at Native Americans.

Last spring, a racist, homophobic Snapchat message targeting four students on two tickets for student body president and vice president at UW-Oshkosh drew outrage and sparked an investigation into a student.

Addressing racism on campuses is a challenge, Schmidt said. New students are constantly entering and bringing their views with them.

"We're not naive enough to think that we're going to wipe out racism on our campus, because we are a reflection of society," Schmidt said. "I would hope through the efforts of so many on our campus, that we could be a better reflection of society."

Nevertheless, Langer and another UW-Eau Claire student of color, Taz Smith, said they would like to see swift accountability and cultural changes at the school, where minorities made up 10% of the student body — the highest percentage since 2004 — in 2018, and where black students accounted for only 120 of the school's total enrollment of 10,905 in 2018, according to data from the UW System.

When the university recruits minorities to an overwhelmingly white campus, Langer said, it has a special responsibility to support and protect them.

Schmidt said the university provides inclusivity training to all new students at orientation and through other avenues. The university just hired a new vice chancellor for equity, diversity and inclusion who will start a campus conversation on the school's climate when he starts his new role. And on Thursday, the university's office of multicultural affairs will host a forum for students to talk about the messages.

The student organization targeted in the football players' conversation, Black Male Empowerment, was founded in 2017 by Dennis Beale, a UW-Eau Claire employee, to help African-American men thrive in college and combat stereotypes. Beale started the organization after a close friend died in a shooting. He started the group in his friend's honor.

Beale said the latest incident came as a shock to him and the students who run Black Male Empowerment. He posted on the group's Facebook page that it was "disturbing to see the backlash we get from people in our own backyard."

But Beale said he has faith in the university's investigation, and the players' suspension shows university leaders are taking the situation seriously.

Beale — and every student interviewed Wednesday — said these kinds of incidents can be a setback to making UW-Eau Claire a place that attracts diverse students.

Still, he said: "Actions speak louder than words and the first action has been made ... Hopefully, extra actions are proceeding forward."

Contact Devi Shastri at 414-224-2193 or DAShastri@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @DeviShastri.