After a white student was attacked by his black roommate at a historically black university, a school official allegedly responded by saying it may have been a “good experience” for the victim.

The white student’s father met with school officials three times to discuss problems his son was having with his roommate. The father said he was concerned the two would come to blows.

The school didn’t separate the pair. After the meetings, the roommate beat the student with a clothes iron. The school told the victim the attacker would be banned from campus, but the victim said the attacker came back to the campus at least four times after the attack.

The victim said he was so fearful that the attacker would hurt him again that his grades slipped and he lost his scholarship.

A school official allegedly told the victim’s father that the attack may have been a good thing because it made the victim appreciate what it’s like to be a minority. The school official denied making any such statement.

The victim sued the school, saying its actions before and after the attack constituted racial discrimination.

He lost. Why? Because he did not show the school acted with “deliberate indifference” to the alleged student-on-student racial harassment.

Cite: Maislin v. Tennessee State University.

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Tags: racial discrimination, racial harassment, student violence