Two students withdraw from University of Oklahoma after blackface video

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – The University of Oklahoma says two students have voluntarily withdrawn from the school after one appeared on a social media video wearing black face paint and using a racial epithet.

OU President Jim Gallogly says the two apologized for what he called a “shocking, racist video,” noting that Monday is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, in honor of the slain black civil rights leader.

In the video posted late last week on social media, a young woman is seen painting her face black, laughing and uttering a racist slur, while the other student was filming.

OU President James Gallogly said the students were not expelled and that the recording was made off-campus.

“Those students will not return to campus,” Gallogly announced. “This type of behavior is not welcome here and is condemned in the strongest terms by me and by our university.”

Gallogly declined to identify the two students, other than saying they were both sophomores. They were both stunned by the blowback to their social media posting.

The Tri Delta sorority confirmed earlier in the day that at least one of the women involved in the video is now a former member.

The OU Black Student Association has called for a zero-tolerance policy on hate speech, more social and cultural classes, more multicultural faculty and staff, and additional financial assistance for African-Americans.

Association leaders haven’t responded to Gallogly’s comments.

OU severed ties with a fraternity and expelled two students in 2015 after several members took part in a racist chant caught on video that referenced lynching.