San Jose State College has expelled three of four students who were charged with race-related bullying of a Black classmate, Donald Williams Jr. Last November, Williams, who was then a freshman, reported harassment from the students, which included wrestling him to the ground, fastening a bike lock around his neck, calling him racist names, locking him in his room, and showing him the Confederate flag.
Logan Beaschler, Colin Warren and Joseph Bomgardner have been banned for life from enrolling in any California State University colleges, according to university documents.
LaDoris Cordell, a retired judge who aided in investigating the incident, said, “They have no business being enrolled at SJSU.”
Eric Geffon, a lawyer for one of the underage students charged, says he believes that college officials conducted a biased review of the evidence.
“We were very disappointed with the school’s process,” Geffon said. “It was clear early on they had already made up their mind.” Geffon maintains that his client’s actions were not racially motivated.
Despite this assertion, campus police reports state that the students nicknamed the victim “Three-Fifths,” in reference to the Three-Fifths law, which once counted Blacks as only a fraction of a person. When Williams protested, the students allegedly began calling him “Fraction.”
Williams’ parents reported his claims to SJSU after finding a Confederate flag placed over an Elvis Presley cardboard cutout in their son’s suite and a dry-erase board with the N-word scrawled on it.