Thousands are calling for the expulsion of a Stanford student after a series of racist, violent and otherwise horrific social media posts over the last week.
Chaze Vinci, a class of 2023 student and member of the Stanford College Republicans, posted a plethora of racist, homophobic and sexist content, including videos and pictures, to Instagram and Facebook over the past week. The long list of vile posts includes a photoshopped picture of a black student to appear as if she was beheaded, another picture of professor’s face dripping red ink next to a guillotine and as recently as Monday a photo of former Stanford student Brock Turner, who was convicted of sexually assaulting another student, with the caption "a woman always gets what’s coming to her."
Screenshots of some of the posts can be seen here. (TRIGGER WARNING: The content is extremely graphic and disturbing.)
In a letter to students addressing the situation on Monday, Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne called the post "ugly" and "disturbing" and he would "address what has occurred" with actions "to ensure the safety of our community." However, he did not specifically say what disciplinary actions the school would take.
He said an investigation is ongoing.
Over 3,500 students as of early Tuesday afternoon have signed a petition started by a Black students organization at Stanford calling on the school to hold Vinci accountable.
"How can Stanford's mission be to support the education of future leaders when those leaders fear the very campus they are told to live on?" the petition read. "How can Stanford value ethics when they only know how to remain silent?"
"Stanford SAYS that they support the Black community but an email is NOT enough. Stanford SAYS that threats towards the Black community are unacceptable but we have yet to see true action," organizers added following the president's email.
Multiple students voiced their concern over the situation to KPIX.
"The fact that we have to be responsible for our own safety at an institution that hires its own police department, that just really hurts," Stanford sophomore Lilly Towe said.
"It’s like we don’t feel safe at an institution when there is no particular system in place to, like, how are you protecting Black gender-marginalized folks on this campus," junior Emily Nichols said.
Over recent days, Vinci posted about the firestorm of controversy he’s embroiled in, including retweeting a Stanford Daily article about the president’s statement on Monday.
He told KTVU he’s trying to frame his “biblical understanding of the world in a political context" and his words and images are meant to be decisive.
Comparative Literature Professor David Palumbo-Liu, the target of the aforementioned guillotine post, told the station he believes Vinci has crossed a line in the name of politics and student political groups need to disavow this.
"It is a call to violent action and they have said nothing. Fortunately the university has. And I think they should keep saying it because we're going to bring kids back to campus and what kind of community are we bringing them into?" Palumbo-Liu said.
Stanford classes resume on September 20.
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