The Morristown-Beard grad and former Cornell football recruit caught on camera using a racial slur will no longer attend the university,
Snapchat video of Watchung native Nate Panza using a racial slur was posted on Twitter last month. After the video, Cornell's head football coach, David Archer, made the decision to rescind Panza's offer to join the team in the fall.
On Monday, university representatives declined to comment and did not say whether the school had rescinded Panza's admission to Cornell. Panza did not respond to comment.
“Cornell football was made aware of the video," said Andy Noel, Cornell University's director of athletics and physical education. "There is no room for this behavior in Cornell Athletics."
Two days after Panza’s removal from the team, the Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell tweeted that it was looking into Panza’s admission. Over 450 signatures were gathered on an online petition calling for his expulsion. The petition said expelling Panza would be a "simple yet elegant opportunity" to reduce the school's limited space to manage a potential surge in COVID-19 cases.
"We the student body propose a simple additional measure: Expel freshman Nate Panza over his public use of the N-word on social media," the online petition read. "With only 6,701 single and double occupancy rooms, 153 isolation beds, and 366 available classrooms, we must be more judicious than ever before as to how that space is allocated, and to whom we extend the privilege of occupying that space."
Although it is not clear whether Cornell revoked Panza's offer letter, the university’s admissions revocation policy states that it “reserves the right to revoke an offer of admission under certain circumstances, and at any time.”
Two of Panza’s former classmates from Morristown-Beard School also had their offers rescinded at their respective colleges, after similar racist incidents that circulated on social media.
Morristown-Beard graduate and incoming University of Richmond student Adam Giaquinto filmed Panza using the racial slur and was heard mentioning George Floyd, the Black man who was killed at the hands of Minneapolis police officers last month.
Giaquinto's acceptance to the University of Richmond was rescinded last month.
"Admission to the University of Richmond is offered with the condition that students wishing to join our community maintain the academic and social/behavioral standards on which admission is based — standards expected of all members of the community," said Cynthia Price, assistant vice president of media and public relations at the university.
The Morristown-Beard School posted a letter on Twitter calling the growing concern about these issues "painful to read" and said they "exposed racism" within the school and community.
Along with an apology to Black students who endured racial injustices while attending the school and a commitment to becoming an anti-racist community, Morristown-Beard released a list of actions it would take. These included creating a task force and hiring an independent consultant to conduct surveys of Black students and alumni and to facilitate forums.
