A university admissions recruiter in the US has been fired after asking a group of high school students to line up according to their skin colour and hair texture.
Students at Harding Charter Preparatory High School in Oklahoma City claim the recruiter, who was visiting on behalf of Oklahoma Christian University (OC), instructed them to follow the exercise without any explanation during an assembly on 24 February.
“He barely talked about the school itself,” Rio Brown, a student at the school, toldKFOR-TV. “I could already see through his BS basically ... he wasn’t really knowledgeable how to speak to people even in a diverse school.”
Mr Brown said the recruiter, a white man, made the students “play a little game” in which he told them to line up from darkest to lightest skin complexion.
Then, he asked those present to reshuffle and rank themselves according to who had the “nappiest” hair, claims student Korey Todd.
“He told us to line up,” he said. “Nappiest hair in the back and straightest hair in the front.
“That is when I felt uncomfortable. I was like ‘okay, this isn’t right.’
“Teachers left. They were crying, and they were offended. Their faces just look disgusted. I know they had a talk with him after, like, ‘That’s not OK.’”
A spokesperson for OC said the university has since fired the recruiter, who has not been identified.
“The OC admissions counsellor who visited Harding Charter Preparatory Academy on Monday is no longer an Oklahoma Christian University employee,” the spokesperson said.
“OC admissions leadership did not approve the inappropriate activity in advance and has communicated closely with Harding administration since the visit. Admissions staff are scheduled to visit the academy Monday to apologise to Harding students and staff on behalf of the University.”
Harding Charter also released a statement in which the school condemned the recruiter’s behaviour.
“Our community, from its inception, has valued diversity, inclusion, and a safe and supportive learning environment,” the statement read. “We will continue to do so.”
