Midwest university rocked over video of blonde student saying ‘Go back to your own country!’ outside Turning Point USA event
A Minnesota university and one of its students are in hot water after a video of a woman making a prejudiced statement went viral on social media.
The video was taken on Wednesday outside a Turning Point USA event featuring Riley Gaines, a conservative activist and former collegiate swimmer who advocates against transgender women competing in women’s sports.
The event took place on the University of Minnesota campus, but students from other colleges attended as well. Protesters against the event also stood outside to chastise attendees.
One of those protesters captured a video of a University of Saint Thomas student walking into the event, as another protester could be heard speaking through his megaphone.
‘Go back to your own country, b****!’ the University of Saint Thomas student appeared to shout towards the man with the megaphone while two male students she was with smiled and laughed.
‘I know, you hate people!’ the man could be heard replying.
Later in the video, the student saw that she was being recorded and asked the man behind the camera, ‘Why are you recording me?’ The man with the megaphone could then be heard saying, ‘Look at these fat, white trash weirdos who hate America.’
The video, which was posted on Thursday by a male model named Darnell Edwards, has gone viral, receiving 10 million views in four days and thousands of angry comments.
A University of Saint Thomas student was caught on camera shouting ‘Go back to your own country, b***’ at a protester outside a Turning Point USA event
Two male students appeared to smile and laugh at the statement before the female student noticed that another protester was taking a video
After the student noticed she was being recorded, she made eye contact with the camera and asked: ‘Why are you recording me?’
Reposts of the video across social media have received millions more views and thousands more comments.
Edwards identified the woman in the video as a University of Saint Thomas student and named her, but the Daily Mail could not independently verify her identity as it appears her social media profiles were taken down.
The University of Saint Thomas released a statement confirming the student attended the school but did not name her, citing ‘student privacy laws.’
The school referred to the video as ‘an off-campus incident involving one of our students’ and said in part: ‘The language heard in the video is inconsistent with the university’s values and convictions.
‘As a Catholic university, we have a responsibility to provide a welcoming environment for all and do not condone hateful language being used by anyone in our university community.’
The university pledged to address the incident ‘in accordance with the student code of conduct’ and said it ‘will continue providing support and working to build a university community that respects the dignity of each person.’
The statement appears to have been released after backlash from the campus community, as in a follow-up video to his first post, Edwards urged students to email the university about its student’s conduct.
He also said that he received messages from alumni who claimed they would stop donating because of the video.
The video went viral on social media, garnering 10 million views, more than 380,000 likes and thousands of angry comments in just four days
The outrage was palpable in the comments of the viral video as well.
‘The comfort she felt in yelling racist statements, while in clearly likeminded company EVAPORATED, instantaneously when she realized she’s on camera,’ one user began.
‘Not in any way that she feels remorse. But entirely in that she feels regret that she might now how [sic] the possibility of consequences for her hateful actions,’ the comment concluded.
‘Can see the fear set in as she takes an extended breath and looks down at her phone, just beginning to process what has just happened and is still happening lol,’ another comment said.
‘I was just on the phone with the dean… they acknowledged that it goes against their guidelines and are handling it,’ a third commenter added.
The University of Saint Thomas referred the Daily Mail to its public statement when reached for comment.
If you or someone you know is a student at the university and has more information about the reaction to the video on campus, please reach out to eliot.force@dailymail.com with any tips.
