Blackface Video: SUNY Potsdam University

By Nicole Kessler

See our full article about the 11 blackface selfies and videos posted this fall.

Three students from SUNY Potsdam University in upstate New York, posted a video of themselves wearing blackface on social media.

Three students from SUNY Potsdam University in upstate New York, posted a video of themselves wearing blackface on social media.

The video of the students dancing to rap music was posted on Oct. 22, but has since been deleted.

A university’s spokesperson, Alexandra Jacobs Wilke, wrote the following in an email.

“SUNY Potsdam takes this matter seriously and has investigated this incident, including a review by the Bias Incident Response Team, overseen by our Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Regardless of intent, this imagery is offensive and insensitive. We do not condone this behavior, nor is it representative of our institution.”

“While we cannot comment on individual cases involving students, it is important to know that offensive depictions such as blackface are considered protected speech under the First Amendment. Unlike Quinnipiac, as a public university, SUNY Potsdam and other state university campuses are subject to the same First Amendment limitations as other federal, state and local government agencies. Such depictions do not fit the criteria in order to be considered a violation of the law or of our student code of conduct.”

“As a campus, we have not taken this lightly, and are coming together to make this into a learning moment. For instance, we held a campus wide Day of Reflection, with educational sessions on a variety of topics related to inclusion and diversity, in conjunction with Black Solidarity Day.”