Royal Holloway investigates student for ‘racial harassment’

The RHUL Tab can confirm that a Royal Holloway student is being investigated by the College for “racial harassment”, after screenshots of racially insensitive comments made by the student emerged on Twitter.

In comments relating to riots that broke out in the U.S. following the killing of George Floyd, the student states: “to say that no property is worth more than one life is wrong and silly because it means that all of the property in the world isn’t valued more than one life.”

In different comments, the student writes: “You make the assumption that availability of opportunity leads to availability of outcome. What about the fact that people of black ethnicity are more highly associated with committing crime and their socioeconomic factors are blamed for that.”

RHUL launched an investigation after screenshots of the comments were posted on Twitter, where they have been retweeted over 70 times.

Other students had tagged the College in the tweets, urging RHUL to investigate.

“Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. We have passed on your message to the appropriate member of staff to follow up,” the College responded to the students on Twitter.

When contacted by The RHUL Tab to ask for comment on allegations of racial harassment, the student gave the following statement: “I decline to comment… because I believe The Tab to be affiliated with the University and I wish to show that my views are entirely my own and not representative of others.”

The RHUL Tab is not affiliated with Royal Holloway, University of London in any way.

When asked by The RHUL Tab whether the student’s comments are acceptable, a spokesperson for Royal Holloway said: “In our community racial harassment, intolerance, abuse or violence is not tolerated in any form.

“The comments made by this individual have been reported to us and are being investigated.”

The spokesperson added that: “While that investigation is being carried out we cannot provide any further comment.”

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