SAN MARCOS – Texas State University's president has been forced to, once again, reconcile evidence of racism exhibited by a member of the student body.
On Friday, Denise Trauth condemned the "offensive and racist" comments made by student body president Connor Clegg. This is the fifth time Trauth has had to address apparent racism at the San Marcos campus this year.
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In this latest incident, Trauth responded to student uproar after screenshots of photos from Clegg's Instagram account appeared to target Asians and included hashtags referring to Pearl Harbor and former North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il.
Trauth has already had to respond to other racist incidents on campus including the repeated hanging of fliers promoting white supremacy and an opinion column in the campus paper titled "Your DNA is an Abomination" calling for the death of "whiteness."
In every incident, Trauth condemned discrimination in all forms and stated that the university is a place of inclusion.
See all of Trauth's responses:
Trauth's statement following the posting of anti-Semitic fliers in March:
President Trauth Denounces Hateful Communications https://t.co/uwrLOn7qf8 pic.twitter.com/mMNqGpmgWG
— Texas State (@txst) March 10, 2017
Trauth's statement regarding social media posts targeting an African-American student in April:
My statement on the recent #txst-related social media postings: https://t.co/dq7adWJUbV pic.twitter.com/URHYuCC17Y
— Denise M. Trauth (@TXSTPresident) April 20, 2017
Trauth's statement following the hanging of posters promoting white supremacy in October:
Racist messages have no place at #TXST. We embrace diversity and inclusion and reject those who seek to divide us. https://t.co/3C1esguKmU
— Denise M. Trauth (@TXSTPresident) October 20, 2017
Trauth's statement following the racist opinion column in the University Star in November:
I am deeply troubled by the racist opinion column published in the Nov. 28, 2017, issue of the University Star. Read my statement at https://t.co/e0K8tI1gD8
— Denise M. Trauth (@TXSTPresident) November 29, 2017
Trauth's statement regarding Clegg's racist and offensive posts in January of 2018:
Statement from President Denise M. Trauth: pic.twitter.com/jsXuQvZIZy
— Texas State (@txst) February 2, 2018
Late last year, the individuals responsible for hanging the fliers were caught and given trespass warnings. The Attorney General's Office and Texas State University refused to identify the group in an open records request.
The opinion column that ran in the student newspaper, the University Star, triggered a review of the paper's editorial process.
It's unclear what will come from this latest incident involving Clegg, but a petition calling for Clegg's impeachment has garnered more than 1,300 signatures.