Police report gives new details on racial dustup at Missouri

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Witnesses told police a racial slur that rekindled unrest at the University of Missouri came from a white woman walking with a group of seemingly intoxicated students toppling trash cans, according a campus police report released Thursday.

That account offers a few new details about Tuesday night’s incident that led to the temporary suspension of the Columbia campus’ Delta Upsilon fraternity, outside of which the flare-up escalated.

Members of the Legion of Black Collegians told police they were walking past a group of white students when a woman among them muttered a racial slur, according to the five-page police report that was released to media outlets in response to an open-records request.

The black students told police, and the dispute escalated outside the Delta Upsilon fraternity house. Some black students reported hearing racial epithets directed at them from the house and, in an act those students deemed mocking, rap music was blared at them through one of the fraternity house’s windows, according to the police report.

Officers did not hear the epithets, but a black student shouted racially charged insults back, according to the report. It quoted one officer as reporting hearing someone on the sidewalk threaten damage to the fraternity house as police tried to de-escalate the situation.

The incident follows campus turmoil last year, when student protests over what some saw as administrators’ indifference to racial issues culminated in the resignations of the campus chancellor and the university system’s president.

Delta Upsilon International executive director Justin Kirk said Wednesday the fraternity house’s emergency suspension would be in effect while the matter is investigated.

“Racism and sexism have no place in our fraternity,” Kirk said. “We expect our members to be positive contributors to inclusive campus environments.”

The university also suspended the fraternity on Wednesday. In a statement, school officials said the chapter had been cited for other violations of campus policy, including alcohol violations.

A suspended fraternity cannot use university facilities or participate in campus activities such as Homecoming and social events, the university said.

The university and police said they have identified the students involved, though neither has made those names public. Student names in the police report were redacted.