A tweet showing a receipt with a racial slur from a restaurant in the University of North Texas student union is making the rounds on campus and beyond.
“It was all over social media,” said UNT senior Garvin Williams.
“It’s pretty terrible,” echoed student Gemma Brazell.
The tweet had been retweeted some 4,000 times by Wednesday afternoon. It was originally posted by UNT student Chelsea Shaw, who was shocked when she ordered food from Krispy Krunchy Chicken at the student union Tuesday, looked down at her receipt and saw the slur.
“Especially at a school like UNT who has its mission of being very diverse and multicultural, I don’t think she was prepared to see that. And when she saw that, it disgusted her,” said attorney Justin Moore, who is now representing Shaw.
Moore said Shaw is overwhelmed by the whole thing, and said they plan to sue. He said they also want the chicken restaurant removed from campus.
“I was angry just as a black man, as a citizen, as a person who's gone to college, I think no college student should go through that,” Moore said.
UNT President Neal Smatresk responded shortly after the tweet was posted.
“Our Mean Green family values respect and prides itself on inclusion,” he wrote. “It is completely unacceptable and not who we are as a community. We acted immediately to identify the person responsible and that person has been terminated.”
That person, UNT said, was a student cook.
“Both the customer and the employee were the same race, and regardless of other societal views it is my belief that the use of this term is never OK,” Smatresk said later Wednesday.
“It’s just a lack of education, which is sad on a college campus,” said junior Zoe Woodruff.
“It's just not something that should be used, especially in 2018 — it's just crazy,” Williams said.
