‘There is no excuse for it,’ UNC student body president says of racial slurs in old tweets
UNC-Chapel Hill’s student body president issued a public apology Thursday after the school’s student newspaper shed light on some old tweets in which she used racial slurs and other offensive language.
In her apology on Facebook, Savannah Putnam said The Daily Tar Heel probed her Twitter account after contacting her regarding a report on “inclusive language and the dangers of insensitivity.”
What the newspaper found became the case in point for the article posted Thursday.
It included screenshots where Putnam used a variation of the N-word and made other snide remarks on Twitter. The tweets, from 2013 and 2014 have since been deleted.
“To be honest, what they found was offensive and unacceptable,” Putnam wrote on Facebook. “And, regardless of who I have matured to become today I understand that I am responsible for all of my actions, even the ones that I now regret.
“That being said, I would like to offer my sincerest apology, I know that what I said was wrong, there is no excuse for it.”
In the article, The Daily Tar Heel said Putnam declined to discuss the posts in person on Tuesday and instead provided the newspaper with a statement on Thursday.
“I don’t think journalism should involve pulling quotes from 12-year-olds who obviously have a lot to learn about the world,” Putnam said in the statement, according to the article. “This obviously isn’t something that I stand by, as evidenced by a platform centered around inclusivity.”
The article pointed out that Putnam would have been 15-17 years old at the time the tweets were written.
Putnam, Class of 2019, was elected student body president in February.
Her campaign platform included a section on “Multicultural and Diversity Outreach” calling for implicit bias training as a requirement for faculty, staff and students, and for the establishment of a diversity council.
It also vowed to support the university’s African American community, and to advocate for relocating the controversial Confederate monument known as Silent Sam to an off-campus site.
“In addition to concrete steps addressing minority male retention and the unique experience of black women on campus, this administration will push for the University’s public acknowledgement of its racially troubling past and pressure the Carolina Administration to level the playing ground for all students in the future,” Putnam’s campaign platform said.
Putnam closed her apology saying she plans to spend the upcoming weeks evaluating how she and her administration can earn back the trust of their peers.
“All that I can say is that since that time (of the tweets) I have done a lot of learning, growing, and, most of all, maturing and I hope you’ll support us as we embrace our vulnerability and continue to be open with you all even when it’s not easy,” she wrote.
This story was originally published June 15, 2018 at 3:17 PM with the headline "‘There is no excuse for it,’ UNC student body president says of racial slurs in old tweets."