‘All Asian people need to die’ text message sparks uproar at US university
- School authorities at Occidental College in Los Angeles are under fire for not disciplining a student who blamed Asians for the Covid-19 pandemic
- Chalk messages written by students to protest against the racist texts were erased by campus staff
In late 2020, a student at Occidental College in the US sent a text message to a friend that read: “all asian people need to die.”
She followed with another text saying Asians are “responsible for the pandemic so they need to die for that too”.
A year later, in October or November, the friend reported the text exchange to Occidental officials and her sorority, setting off a controversy that has roiled the small liberal arts college in Los Angeles, as students question what they see as a delayed and inadequate response from the administration.
On Tuesday, after a crescendo of complaints, Occidental College President Harry J. Elam said the student who sent the racist texts is no longer enrolled at the school and has “expressed remorse and regret for her actions”.
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Elam also promised to convene a series of campus forums and anti-bias workshops.