Tuesday’s sit-in comes days after a black student told police he was assaulted on campus by three white men.
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The 26-year-old black man was assaulted on Friday night by three white men near the campus pool at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, police said.
Police say it is unknown if racially charged statements earlier this week on the social media platform Yik Yak are related to the incident. Police learned the incident actually occurred around 9 p.m. and the student waited to report the assault until after talking with friends.
Honore said the victim refused medical attention from an ambulance that came to campus later. We are all brothers and sisters.Muvuna told The Oregonian that he was walking on campus shortly after midnight Saturday when three men approached and used a racial slur. He fought back and was able to get away.
The suspects are described as college-age white males, about 5-foot-8-inches tall and of medium build.
“We wanted to clearly let students at Lewis & Clark know that the Pacific University community stands behind them at a hard time”, said Rev. Chuck Currie, chaplain at the Forest Grove-based private university.
Portland Police Sgt. Greg Stewart said because the transgender student wished to remain anonymous, police “were not provided contact information for the victim or other information necessary to conduct further investigation.”
“Ask us for a ride if you feel unsafe”. The messages on Yik Yak, repeated again on Friday, were interpreted by hundreds of student, faculty and staff as threats.
A formal apology to the #LCBlackLivesMatter organizers for his absence directly after the assault on Saturday night and what they say was the lack of communication thereafter.
Portland Police Bureau spokesman Greg Stewart said he had few details about the assault.
College Vice President David Ellis said they are working closely with police to figure out if the social media posts and the attack are connected.
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“We’re doing the president’s work where the president’s work should be done”, said Emma Biddulph, one of the organizers. The courts have ruled that the more a message targets a particular person or group and a particular time and place, the more it constitutes a real threat.
