Carleton University is investigating a series of Snapchat posts featuring two individuals mocking George Floyd’s death, as well as a video of one of the individuals allegedly urinating on the seats of a lecture hall.
The Snapchat posts portray two young men, one of whom is a Carleton student. In one of the photos, the student is on the ground while his friend kneels on his neck, similar to the way former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin had his knee on George Floyd’s neck.
In a video that was posted to Reddit on Dec. 5, the student is seen urinating in the seats of a Carleton lecture hall. While the photo was taken after George Floyd’s death, the urination video was filmed in Southam Hall a few months before Carleton closed due to COVID-19. Sources are saying that the individual in the photo and video are the same Carleton student, however, this has yet to be officially confirmed. According to the R/CarletonU subreddit, the video was also visible on the Carleton Party Life Instagram story in early December 2019.
The “George Floyd challenge” has been circulating on various social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok. Young people around the world have publicly taken part in this challenge, which involves two people recreating the horrific scene of George Floyd’s death.
This internet fad has been widely condemned by Black Lives Matter. In the U.K., three teens were arrested in suspicion of committing a hate crime after taking part in the challenge. Social media platforms are cracking down on users who are actively participating in it by deleting posts and accounts.
“Carleton University is committed to promoting a working and learning environment free from discrimination and harassment, including race-based harassment, and takes all reports of this nature very seriously,” Carleton media relations officer Steven Reid wrote in an emailed statement.
“We are aware of the content in question and the allegations raised are serious and are under review and investigation as per our conduct processes,” Reid added. “Due to privacy concerns, we are unable to share more details at this time.”
Multiple sources have spoken to the Charlatan, confirming the identity of the student in question and his friend. The Charlatan will not be publishing their names due to the ongoing investigation.
In an email from the alleged student, he denied all accusations of misconduct and declined to comment on the picture in question. The other individual accused of partaking in the George Floyd challenge declined to comment as well.
These Snapchat posts were made public on Instagram by Khizar Farooqi, a new University of Ottawa student who is entering his first-year of nursing in the fall. Farooqi’s posts have generated thousands of likes, comments and shares — many by Carleton students.
Farooqi said that he used to be friends with the two people who are alleged of being in the posts when they went to Glebe Collegiate Institute together. He said he ended their friendship over what he thought was problematic behaviour.
After months of frustration over their unchecked behaviour, Farooqi decided to go public.
“They’ve never had a consequence,” he said. “My main frustration with them is they haven’t apologized for this, and they don’t take this seriously.”
Farooqi said that he decided to share the Snapchat post because he wanted to see them publicly apologize. Instead, he said that he’s been threatened with legal action, and said other people have been threatened as well.
“I was like, ‘Everybody is mad at you because of what you did, but if you take responsibility … they’re going to get over it if you apologize and make actions to be a better person,’” she said.
Cummings said she’s willing to work with both of them, help them craft apologies, and figure out a way that they can move forward. She said she’s hoping for more conversations and a positive outcome.
“I just want to make sure justice is served and that they learn their lesson,” she said.
Carleton University Students Association (CUSA) president Kathleen Weary said that she was disappointed to see that students were allegedly mocking George Floyd’s death. She added that after she was notified of Farooqi’s Instagram post, she met with Student Affairs and Student Life director Jeremy Brzozowski, who began the process of investigating with Carleton’s Department of Equity and Inclusive Communities.
“They’ll be looking into it, investigating, and seeing what the consequences will be for those students, and how it violates the university’s policies,” Weary said.
CUSA has been using its social media platform to promote the Black Lives Matter movement and a variety of virtual events for Carleton’s Black community. Weary said there’s more work being done behind the scenes to address systemic racism on campus, including an upcoming five-year strategic plan.
Weary also shared a message to Farooqi in response to his decision to go public with the Snapchat posts.
“Thank you for your courage and for holding the university accountable, for not accepting this type of behaviour from students,” she said.“If student’s like this are among us, there needs to be consequences, and the students responsible can’t be continuing to put other students in danger.”
A previous version of this article stated that Khizar Farooqi is a Carleton nursing student when in fact he is a uOttawa nursing student. The Charlatan regrets the error.
Featured image provided by Jeff Pelletier.
