Three students at San Jose State University--Logan Beaschler, Joseph Bomgardner, and Colin Warren--have been charged with hate crimes after locking up their black roommate in his room and fastening a bicycle lock around his neck and saying they lost the key.
The three are also accused of calling the roommate “three-fifths,” referring to the way the government once counted blacks; putting up a Confederate flag in the dormitory suite; and writing the N-word on a dry-erase board in the suite.
The students have been charged with misdemeanor hate crimes and battery over the alleged hazing, reported the San Jose Mercury News.
The harassment began when the black freshman, the three who were charged, and four other students were assigned to a four-bedroom suite on-campus in February.
Two of the students were reassigned after the parents of the black freshman reported in mid-October seeing the N-word on a dry-erase board. But no further steps were taken after that until now.
“I’m still in shock,” the student said. “I tried not to dwell on this. But my family is upset and I’m upset.”
The student said he didn’t feel safe in his own room and got worse grades than he would have otherwise.
The three students who were charged admitted to the harassment but they said their actions were “pranks” and “jokes.”
