Case of Racist Messages Written on Black College Student's Door Finally Solved — Now There Are Faces Full of Eggs to Wipe Clean

Grand Valley State University in Michigan got a big shake-up last month when news hit that racist messages and images were written on a black student's door.

The photo of the finished product looked something like this — albeit some words from the below image have been digitally obscured by WXMI-TV in Grand Rapids:

Image source: WXMI-TV

The raw image of the whiteboard on the student’s dorm door (with the particularly offensive written words visible) can be seen here:

MLive detailed the outrage, with some students saying they were "appalled" at the messages and surprised that it had happened. Others weren't so shocked:

Donzelle Collins, a sophomore from Detroit, said the incident suggests the university still has ground to cover in building an inclusive campus.He and others said black and minority students still make up a relatively small portion of the university’s overall student body. In fall 2012, 5 percent of GVSU students were black, according to federal data.

“It wasn’t a surprise, considering the area we’re in,” Collins said.

An emergency meeting was hosted Monday by the university’s chapter of the NAACP to discuss the incident. On Wednesday, students on campus said there was a strong turnout at the meeting.

Grand Valley Dean of Students Bart Merkle told a WXMI-TV reporter that "hate has no place on a university campus or any place." Below is the full report just after the news broke:

Well, it turns out that all the outrage and statements and meetings happened over a hoax, Legal Insurrection noted.

Campus police learned that the student occupying the room in question and who owned the dry-erase board in the photographs was the culprit.

Here's the statement from police:

Posted on March 21, 2014

Statement from Grand Valley Police Department Chief Renee Freeman:

The Grand Valley State University Police Department has concluded a thorough investigation of the Racial Bias incident reported on February 17, 2014. The person believed to be responsible for the drawing and language written on the dry erase board is a Grand Valley student and the owner of the message board.

The incident has had a disruptive impact on the community and as a result, the student has been referred to the Dean of Students for a student code violation. University policy does not permit the release of his/her name.

This story has been updated.

(H/T: Weasel Zippers)