A photo of two young women wearing cosmetic mud masks, captioned “Feels good to finally be a n****” has resulted in one of the women being unwelcome by their college administration.
Paige Shoemaker, a Kansas State University (KSU) student, posted the image on Snapchat last Tuesday of her and her friend Sadie Meier along with the caption.
By Thursday it had caught the attention of the school.
“On Sept. 15, the university received notice that a derogatory social message and photo was sent out via social media,” wrote Assistant Provost for Diversity Zelia Wiley. “The involved person is not currently enrolled at the university. It is our understanding the second individual in the photo is not associated with the university.”
Shoemaker, who said she would have been a senior, told NBC-affiliate KSNT that her photo was not meant to be offensive.
When asked why she used the racial slur in the caption, she explained she and her friends used it colloquially.
“Not that this is a good thing but that word just kind of happens in our friend group,” she said. “We’re a big family and so that word does not offend anyone in our group.”
Shoemaker posted an apology to Facebook but social media users continued to react strongly against her initial photo.
Shoemaker was also denounced by her former sorority sisters.
KSU’s Dean of Students Pat Bosco said the photo “has students, faculty, staff and other members of the K-State family upset. It rightly should, as there is no place for racism at our university, regardless of what the intentions may have been.”