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Three students have been banned from the University of Warwick campus after jokes about rape and racial slurs were exchanged in a Facebook group chat.
Screenshots of alleged racist, antisemitic and misogynistic messages – which included the remark “sometimes it’s fun to just go wild and rape 100 girls” – were investigated by the university.
The Russell Group university has banned one student from campus for life, and another two students have been banned for 10 years after formal complaints were made about the messages.
Two more students have been required to withdraw from the university for a year with immediate effect and face disciplinary penalties, along with three other students.
The group chat – which had been called “F*** women, Disrespect them all” – included alleged racist remarks such as “Paki”, as well as “love Hitler, hate n****s and Jews and Corbyn”.
Their ban comes after The Independent revealed that the number of racist incidents at UK universities rose by 61 per cent in two years, which prompted calls for institutions to do more to tackle racism.
The messages in the group chat – which included almost 100 screenshots – were first exposed by the student media after two formal complaints were made to the University of Warwick in April.
A total of 11 students were suspended from the university after a formal investigation was launched.
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The University of Warwick has said that the allegations were “extremely serious” and were a “significant breach” of the university’s policy – which states that staff and students should be “treated fairly and with dignity and respect”.
Following the investigation, the case against one student was found to be not proven and two of the originally accused students were exonerated at an early stage of the process.
Last month, a number of law students who allegedly made racist comments were expelled by the University of Exeter after private WhatsApp conversations were shared on Facebook.
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