The University of North Dakota is investigating two racially charged photographs of students that surfaced within a 48-hour period last week.
Both photos were posted to Snapchat: one pictured four people in blackface, captioned “Black lives matter,” and a second showed three students smiling in a dorm room, captioned “locked the black b-tch out.” The people in the photographs appear to be white, and a UND spokesperson confirmed to the Star Tribune that the people pictured were students at the school.
“I am appalled that within 48 hours two photos with racially charged messages have been posted on social media and associated with the UND campus community,” UND President Mark Kennedy wrote in a statement. “It is abundantly clear that we have much work to do at the University of North Dakota in educating our students, and the entire University community on issues related to diversity, inclusion, and respect for others.”
A student had posted the second photo on Facebook and wrote that her friend, a black woman, had left her phone in her dorm room when the three smiling students published the captioned photo to her Snapchat story.
The University has about 15,000 students; the student body is 79% white and 2.5% black, according to UND data.
More Must-Reads From TIME
- The 100 Most Influential People of 2024
- The Revolution of Yulia Navalnaya
- 6 Compliments That Land Every Time
- What's the Deal With the Bitcoin Halving?
- If You're Dating Right Now , You're Brave: Column
- The AI That Could Heal a Divided Internet
- Fallout Is a Brilliant Model for the Future of Video Game Adaptations
- Want Weekly Recs on What to Watch, Read, and More? Sign Up for Worth Your Time
Write to Julia Zorthian at julia.zorthian@time.com