The #NotAgainSU Instagram account has shared a link to a 2018 video containing current Syracuse University field hockey freshman Charlotte de Vries repeatedly saying the N-word. 

The Instagram live video, originally recorded when de Vries was a junior at Conestoga High School in Pennsylvania, caused her to lose an athletic scholarship to University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She committed to Syracuse a year later in March 2019.

The video resurfaced a day after #NotAgainSU, a Black student-led movement, began occupying Crouse-Hinds Hall to continue its months-long protest of hate crimes and bias incidents. More than 30 students were suspended for violating the school’s campus disruption policy on early Tuesday morning for staying in Crouse-Hinds past its 9 p.m. closing.

“As a high school student, Charlotte used racist, hurtful and offensive language in a video that was posted on social media,” Sarah Scalese, senior associate vice president for university communications, said in a statement. “She has demonstrated deep and genuine remorse and has undergone and continues to participate in educational training on diversity and cultural sensitivity.”

Syracuse’s African Student Union Instagram account also shared the video on Tuesday, and it has more than 500 likes as of 7:45 p.m.

“We demand immediate disciplinary action from our administration,” the African Student Union caption read. “Syracuse University has proven time and time again how innately racist it is as an institution.”

The initial video of de Vries, which was tweeted in 2018, has more than 2.6 million views.

Shortly after the video originally surfaced in 2018, de Vries issued an apology to The Spoke, the newspaper at Conestoga High School.

“I realize that such words are offensive, uncalled for and, regardless of the situation, I should have known better. I have begun to have conversations about how to move forward, and how to develop better sensitivity and understanding of the experiences and feelings of others,” she said in the statement.

In her first season with the Orange, de Vries was named first team All-Atlantic Coast Conference, finishing third in the conference in goals.

This post has been updated with additional reporting.

Published on February 18, 2020 at 5:37 pm

Contact Danny: dremerma@syr.edu | @DannyEmerman