Two College Students Cause Racism Furore After Posing ‘Blacked-Up’ for a Selfie While Undergoing Facial Treatment

Two college students prompted a major race row at the University of Wisconsin after they posed for a SnapChat while undergoing a beauty treatment.

The pair, who have not been named, posted the image to the college’s Snapchat feed which led to a furious reaction.

The students were blasted over their decision to pose for the image prompting calls for an investigation by college authorities.

Initially, college chancellor Beverly Kopper released a statement condemning the post: ‘Last night a disturbing racist post that was made to social media was brought to my attention.

‘This post was hurtful and destructive to our campus community. While social media can certainly bring about positive change, it can also be a place that deeply hurts and harms others.’

An investigation was launched and the two students were questioned by college authorities.

The students said they had both underwent a facial and did not realise that posting the image of them undergoing their treatment would cause offence.

Chancellor Kopper accepted the students’ explanation and they will not face any disciplinary action.

One of the students told WISN.com: ‘I put it on the UW SnapChat. I didn’t really think about it being blackface. I just thought it looked funny.’

The second student added: ‘There was no intention. That’s nothing that we would have thought about in the first place . . . we had no intentions of offending anybody or anything.’

Following the incident and the reaction caused by the image, the college is planning to host a number of race awareness seminars for staff and students.

However, Senator Steve Nass, a Republican who represents Whitewater described the row as a ‘racial over reaction’.

He told Channel3000.com: ‘The students shared a picture on social media showing them with the facial product on their faces and the material just happened to be black in color. The posting contained no racist statement and the students are simply standing in the picture.

‘The official statement misled students, parents and the public by confirming that a racist event had occurred, even though it really hadn’t.’