A Banana Was Taped to the Dorm Room Door of Two Black Students at Rhodes College in Memphis

A banana was taped to the door of two Black male students’ dorm room at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. In addition, pro-Nazi postings directed at students at the college were posted on the social media platform Yik-Yak. Students at the college complained that the administration’s response to the incident was slow and not sufficient.

In a statement to the college community, interim president Carroll D. Stevens said that “whatever the intentions when actions or words make members of our community feel unsafe or unwelcome, they do not align with our values as a college community. It is incumbent on every member of our community to learn not only how to avoid inflicting these harms but also to intervene actively when we witness them within our community.”

Rhodes College enrolls more than 1,800 undergraduate students, according to the most recent data available from the U.S. Department of Education. African Americans make up 10 percent of the student body.

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3 COMMENTS

  1. In today’s higher education news we have White students (and others) displaying their own intellectual, social, and psychological insecurities at another 3rd or 4th tier college in a former Confederate State. Not surprised at all.

    If those so-called Black American male students feel like they’re in a hostile learning environment, they should take their intellectual talents over to Fisk University, Tennessee State University, MVSU, Jackson State, or Alcorn State where it will be appreciated and intellectually nurtured.

    • Nothing ever came out of this incident at Rhodes, and seemed very fishy from the beginning. Making me think it was a False Flag or Jussie Smollet situation. We are too quick to rush to judgement instead of considering all possibilities. Why some people fake these incidents is beyond me, but had it been true, there would’ve been some kind of follow-up for sure. However, almost two months later, and not one peep out of it. I’m not here to be critical, but this is becoming way too much of an issue in this polarized world we’re living in and like clock work, you jumped right on it, without even considering the possibility that the black student claiming to be the victim, very well could have been the perpetrator of the so-called incident. The main issue here is that what this does is take away from “ACTUAL” hate crimes, regardless of the race of the victim.

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