William Paterson Won't Take Action Against Student In Video

WAYNE, NJ — A former William Paterson University sorority leader did not violate the school's code of conduct when she said the n-word in a video that was posted on social media, the institution announced Tuesday.

In a long statement posted on Twitter Tuesday, University President Kathleen Waldron said the school's Office of Student Conduct and the Employment, Equity, and Diversity office reviewed the video and concluded that the code was not violated.

A town hall forum will be held in the university student center Friday from 1 to 3 p.m. Michelle Johnson, chief diversity officer and director of employment equity and diversity, will moderate the forum. All members of the university community are invited.

The student, identified as Jasmine Barkley by William Paterson's newspaper, stepped down from her position on the university's Greek Senate since the video went viral earlier this week. She was also kicked out of her sorority, NorthJersey.com reported.

The university previously said it was "disgusted by the behavior, which does not reflect our values or those we expect from our students."

In an open letter posted by the WPU Beacon on its Twitter page, Barkley said she "never attacked a specific person or group. I was simply questioning why one race has more rights to freedom of speech than another."

Barkley said in the letter that she was upset that her friend was "harassed" by singing along to the lyrics of "Freaky Friday," by Lil Dicky and featuring Chris Brown.

The original videos of Barkley and another student at Penn State were posted by Twitter user Seuntheactivist, who describes himself as an activist and organizer at Penn State. Seuntheactivist says the other student attends Penn State.

Here is Waldron's full statement on the university's Twitter page:

Here is Barkley's full response on the student-run newspaper's Twitter page:

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Photo: The William Paterson Greek Senate Executive Board identified the woman on the right as Barkley.printed with permission from Twitter user Seuntheactivist