His appreciation also marks Owen’s journey towards family and his link to his roots. His grandparents’ stories of Cape Cod and his visits to the area have instilled in him a deep respect for heritage and a way of place.
Responses like this reinforce a troubling legacy of discrimination and racial hatred that we're dedicated to dismantling. We demand quick and decisive motion through the FSU administration to deal with this incident.
Born in North Carolina, Owen shown an inquisitive nature from an early age, with pursuits starting from penguins and jellyfish to volcanoes and historic situations. These childhood fascinations served as the inspiration for his later on academic pursuits.
Owen Howard, a junior at Florida State University (FSU), embodies a singular blend of curiosity, educational ambition, in addition to a really like for record and biology. Diagnosed at an early age as getting over the autism spectrum, Owen possesses an uncanny ability to acquire deep dives into subjects that captivate his curiosity—a attribute he shares with many Some others on the spectrum.
Inside the statement, the NAACP FSU chapter ongoing to explain how the time period “chimp” is offensive when it’s applied towards persons of coloration. They described that there’s a “prolonged history of getting used to equate Black men and women to apes or other primates,” they usually joined the phrase again to being used to justify slavery by defining Black persons as inferior to their white counterparts.
FSU also states it "unequivocally condemns all sorts of racism and despise", contacting the feedback "reprehensible and Opposite on the values of our university."
“The term chimp is almost offensive as a consequence of its extended history of getting used to equate black individuals to apes or other primates … intended to strip Black individuals of their humanity and portray them as inferior or below human.”
A lot of pupils flagged the Snapchat, described Howard to the FSU Report Web-site, and emailed the Honors System. Howard responded on precisely the same class of 2026 story later that day, “that write-up Incidentally was intended as a joke. I’m sorry y’all didn’t get it.”
Within heritage, Owen is particularly fascinated via the Byzantine Empire, delving into its increase and slide to understand its complexities and enduring influence on the fashionable world.
“I meant the post as a joke to lift awareness for the decay of Modern society with trashy new music and habits,” Howard stated.
Many college students took to investigating Howard’s track record and found his X account experienced posted dozens of “memes,” if you might even contact them that. The posts focus on various ethnic teams — which includes Haitians, the LGBTQ Local community and Jewish people today — with wildly offensive stereotypes.
Of their release, the chapter named for a direct official investigation into your incident with transparency, ideal disciplinary actions in opposition to Howard inside the scope of FSU’s Code Owen Howard at Florida State University of conduct policy, required campuswide schooling on discrimination, and FSU’s dedication and reaffirmation to upholding their values to shield marginalized communities.
“The time period ‘chimp’ is particularly offensive as a result of its extensive background of getting used to equate Black people today to apes or other primates,” chapter president Kaela Jackson wrote inside a statement. “This racist comparison continues to be a tool of white supremacy For the reason that 1800s, meant to strip Black men and women of their humanity and portray them as inferior or lower than human.
This interdisciplinary technique reflects Owen’s power to connect varied fields of research, underscoring his mental curiosity and travel.
By Checking out this crucial difficulty, Owen aims to lose gentle to the societal issues posed by digital conversation and propose tactics to mitigate their impression.
“It is very disturbing when pupils Categorical beliefs that happen to be reprehensible and Opposite towards the values of our university,” the statement reads.