‘Disheartening’: CCU students call for consequences after viral video claims student used racial slur

CONWAY, SC (WMBF) - A video circulating on social media appears to show girls repeatedly using a racial slur, and social media posts claim one of them is a Coastal Carolina University student.

The video shows girls, who appear white, repeatedly saying the n-word. WMBF News does not have permission to use the video as of this writing.

In one Facebook post, the video racked up 1 million views, and in another Instagram post from S.C. House District candidate Derrick Quarles, it has 517,000 views. Both videos were posted on Monday and share similar captions.

The posts say that one of the girls in the video is a CCU student, and another is a high school student in Pickens County. These two are the girls seen more prominently in the short video.

The two sent the video to a biracial student at the high school in Pickens County to harm the student, according to the posts.

In a statement, Coastal Carolina University said it is aware of a social media post that has raised concerns among the campus community.

CCU said that any alleged violations of the code of student conduct are referred to the Dean of Students Office for review, but the university does not disclose information related to specific reviews, consistent with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

The statement did not confirm whether one of the girls involved is a CCU student.

Campus reactions

In a statement, CCU’s Black Student Association called the behavior “unacceptable” and said it “reinforces an environment where black students are made to feel disrespected, unsafe, and undervalued.”

The Social Justice Club also spoke out, saying racism in any form “will not be tolerated,” and urged the university to review the video and apply its policies.

Student leaders said they plan to keep pushing for more than just a review; they want clear consequences and long-term education to prevent incidents like this from happening again.

Student reactions

On what some say is a predominantly white campus, Black students say the video is more than just offensive.

They say it makes them feel unwelcome on their own campus, and now they are watching closely to see how CCU responds.

“It’s so weird, like how it’s so normalized for people that are not black to be saying the N-word, especially with the hard R,” said Tamiia Elmore, a sophomore at CCU.

“It wasn’t something good to wake up and see,” said Kel Gallman, a freshman at CCU. “As a black man at a PWI, that’s just not what you want to see, like it doesn’t make you feel like you’re wanted in this space.”

In the video, someone can be heard telling women on camera to “say it” over and over, pressuring them to use the slur while others laugh.

“Immediately when I saw it, I was very disgusted with the video; it really showed me that people still think to use this language freely, and it really made me feel upset because you’re peer pressuring someone into saying something that they clearly don’t want to say,” said Amiris Roberts, a senior and former president of the CCU Social Injustice Club.

For many Black students, this isn’t just about one video. It’s about whether their university will prove it takes their safety and belonging seriously.

“It just felt like we don’t really have a safe space here in a sense, like you can blatantly see that the video was on coastal grounds and coastal housing,” said Nyela Lee Asterilla-Anderson, a junior at CCU.

Students say they will be watching for any updates from the Dean of Students Office and for long-term steps like training and campus-wide conversations on racism.

“There should obviously be like consequences for it, like it shouldn’t just be unscathed, but I don’t know exactly what they should do, I don’t know if it’s worth expelling her for,” said Evan Lenhard, a CCU student.

Coastal Carolina says there is no additional information available right now.

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