Officials at Lincoln University were forced to send a message to the student body after vandals spray painted the n-word on a sign at the school’s entrance.
The act of vandalism, which read “Lincoln N*gger University” with the added text, was discovered at 1:50 AM on Thursday (Feb. 19), and was removed later in the morning.
“This incident is a sober reminder that our forebearers persevered in the face of hatred and intimidation, yet achieved and maintained standards for excellence which Lincoln University has become known,” acting president Valerie I. Harrison told the university community.
Said “forebearers” are of an important lineage, as Lincoln University, founded in 1854, was the nation’s first historically Black college or university.
Harrison continued, “Let’s not allow the cowardly acts of others distract us from our commitment to maintaining this legacy or cause us to act in a manner that is inconsistent with our greatness.”
The university’s student government association chimed in, telling students to focus their efforts on excelling in school and servicing their communities to show detractors “what it truly means to be the educated youth of a prestigious and dynamic heritage.”
“We retaliate,” the association continued, “by understanding that we are not inferior nor defined by the same name they tried to break our ancestors with hundreds of years ago.”
via Philly.com
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Photo: Twitter
