Syracuse says Rutgers student was worst offender in racist attack

A student from Rutgers University was involved in a verbal assault against a group of African American women at a fraternity party Saturday night at Syracuse University.

SU chancellor Kent Syverud on Sunday suspended the Alpha Chi Rho fraternity after a black student filed a complaint saying she was verbally harassed by people leaving a party at the frat the night before. All fraternities’ social events were also suspended.

Four of the 14 people involved were Syracuse students and have been suspended, Syverud said Wednesday in an address to the University Senate. He said the rest attend other schools that have been informed of the incident, including Rutgers University where the student who was reported to be the "most aggressive" during the incident attends. Syverud did not identify any of the students involved.

The incident was one of several racist incidents at Syracuse University in the past month. The school said a white supremacist manifesto reported to have been sent to students' iPhones and iPads via the AirDrop feature was a hoax as the school could not find anyone who directly received it.

There have been a dozen instances of racist and anti-Semitic graffiti appearing on or near campus in recent weeks, according to Syverud, who said police believe that as many as five people connected to the university are responsible for the vandalism.

"The entire case has also been referred to the Onondaga County District Attorney. The New York State Police’s Hate Crimes Task Force has been partnering with us and we’re working with the New York State Division of Human Rights on this matter," Syverud said about the party incident.

Rutgers said the school was "gathering more information to help determine whether the student violated Rutgers’ Code of Student Conduct, which applies both on and off campus."

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ

More from New Jersey 101.5