Racist Graffiti Covers President Obama Photo at UCO

By Rusty Surette, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Campus police at the University of Central Oklahoma are looking for the person who scribbled racist graffiti on a display photo of President Barack Obama.

The Breaking Barriers display in the Nigh University Center was first vandalized Monday night when someone wrote "KKK" on President Obama's picture.

"It's not typical of our UCO culture for incidents like that to happen. I'm just surprised to actually see that on the African-American exhibit," said MeShawn Conley, UCO Multicultural Student Services.

The photo was removed and replaced on Tuesday, but it wasn't long after that before someone again wrote "KKK" and "Slave" on the display.

"It is not a funny incident and we don't have any room on our campus or in our community for ignorance or intolerance," Conley said.

Extra patrol has been put in place near the display.

"This does not reflect the overwhelming spirit of diversity of this campus," said UCO Spokeswoman Adrienne Nobles.

The Breaking Barriers display, which now features a laminated photo of the President, belongs to Thomaira Babbit, a graduate student who told the campus newspaper she's upset.

"Yeah, Thomaira is really upset with it," said student reporter Jenefar DeLeon. "She was shocked that at a university, where there is so much diversity and culture, someone would do this to an exhibit for Black History Month."