USC student Rini Sampath made headlines earlier this year when she became the school's first woman elected as student body president in nearly a decade and reportedly "set historical precedent" by running on the school's first all-female presidential ticket. In an upsetting story that exemplifies why female and minority leadership is so desperately needed in communities like USC's, the college senior revealed a shocking racist interaction on campus that will feel all-too-familiar to students of color.

On Sunday night, she published the following note on Facebook:

Last night, as I was walking back from my friend's apartment, a student screamed out at me through the window of his fraternity house, "You Indian piece of shit!" before hurling his drink at my friends and me. Once his fraternity brothers realized it was me, they began to apologize. This stung even more. Today, as I try to unpack these events, I couldn't quite figure out why their after-the-fact apologies deepened the wound. But one of my friends explained it to me the best this morning: "Because now you know, the first thing they see you as is subhuman." And that's the first thing some students on our campus see when they look at anyone who looks like me.

She continued:

I'm still in a state of shock. There's an indescribable hollowness in me, but I'm going public with this because this can't continue. Some people don't believe racism like this can happen on our campus. Some people continue to doubt the need for safe spaces and the need for expanded cultural resource centers or the need for gender neutral bathrooms or the need for diversity in our curriculum or the need for diversity in our professors or the need for diversity in dialogue. And to those who continue to believe we're just playing the "race" card, I ask you this — what's there to win here? A sense of respect? A sense of humanity? A sense of love and compassion for others regardless of how they look like?This isn't an isolated incident. It happens everywhere. Last week, individuals in a pick-up truck yelled racial slurs at Mizzou's Student Body President, Payton Head. Who knows what will happen to someone who looks like me today?

Sampath's post has gone viral, attracting national attention with nearly 1,000 shares and almost 7,000 likes on Facebook. In an interview with The Washington Post, the 21-year-old said that USC officials and students have been supportive, and the original offender has personally apologized to her. But it's a case of too little, too late. "Apologies don't fix these deep wounds," she told the Post. "[The slur] was a verbal assault on my identity — on who I am as a person."

Noting that USC has zero tolerance for these "cowardly and hateful remarks," USC Dean of Religious Life Varun Soni has asked Sampath to file a formal complaint with the school in order to investigate the case to determine the appropriate course of action. "USC and higher education in general tries to look at incidences [sic] like this as learning and growing opportunities, not just punitive opportunities," Soni said. "We want to create a dialogue."

Sampath's full post, below, is worth a read:

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Update 9/23, 7:32 p.m.: USC's Interfraternity Council has released a statement condemning the behavior of the individual who made the offensive comments, and says that it supports the action taken against him:





Speaking on behalf of the USC Interfraternity Council and its constituents, we are deeply saddened by the incident involving racist comments directed towards Student Body President Rini Sampath by a member of a fraternity. We share the sentiment of the campus community of overwhelming disappointment that this incident occurred within our own Trojan Family.



We condemn the actions of the individual and we stand in solidarity with Rini and all

others who have ever been subjected to such unwarranted and vitriolic remarks and

actions. The Interfraternity Council supports the actions taken by the chapter to hold

their member accountable by suspending his membership and evicting him from the

chapter house. We support and share the determination of the student community to

combat violations of decency and civility, and look forward to working collectively to

build a stronger and more inclusive student experience.





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Prachi Gupta Prachi Gupta is an award-winning journalist based in New York.

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