GETTYSBURG, Pa. -- At least two students at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania have been suspended from the swim team after a report that a racial slur was scratched onto a student's body, officials said.
Officials received "a deeply concerning report of a racial slur being scratched onto a student using a plastic or ceramic tool," officials at the 2,200-student private liberal arts school in Gettysburg said in a statement last week.
"This is a serious report, which is being actively assessed through the student conduct process," the college said. "At this point, the students involved are not participating in swim team activities."
The school declined to release further details, citing that process and privacy laws.
It is believed to have happened during an "informal social gathering at an on-campus residence" and was first reported by upper-class students from the swim team, Gettysburg College president Robert Iuliano said.
Iuliano described feeling "profound distress about what happened" and the impact on those long underrepresented on the campus as well as the implications "for a community continuing its evolving efforts to create a truly inclusive environment."
"No matter the relationship, and no matter the motivation, there is no place on this campus for words or actions that demean, degrade, or marginalize based on one's identity and history," he said in a statement that also cautioned against speculation "based on fragments of information that may or may not be accurate."
The city's police chief, Robert Glenny Jr., said he contacted the college after hearing news reports and was told the student who was reportedly targeted chose to handle the matter through the college's internal process, despite college officials encouraging the person to take the matter to police, WGAL-TV reported.