Professors wore Confederate gear and took noose to college party in Alabama, photos show

Three South Alabama professors who showed up to a 2014 Halloween party in “racially insensitive” costumes have been placed on leave after photos of their outfits resurfaced online.

The images, taken at an on-campus party hosted by the University of South Alabama’s business school, are at the center of an independent investigation amid calls from students for the faculty members to be fired, WKRG reported.

Bob G. Wood, then-dean of the Mitchell College of Business, donned a gray Confederate general uniform and matching cap with the Confederate flag stitched on the front, the photos show. Professor Alex Sharland posed with a whip, while colleague Teresa Weldy smiled as she dangled a noose in front of her face.

“These photos depict three members of our faculty wearing and holding symbols that are offensive and are contrary to our core principles of diversity and inclusion,” university President Tony Waldrop wrote in a letter to the campus community on Friday. “I assured all of you that the University would address this situation in a manner that demonstrates our unwavering commitment to diversity, inclusion, and a safe and welcoming environment for every member of our community.”

Waldrop said the school would launch an investigation into its handling of the incident, headed by lawyer Suntrease Williams-Maynard, a former attorney for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission office in Mobile.

“Along with the leadership of the University, I assure you that we’re treating this situation with the utmost seriousness and with a commitment to acting upon the results of the investigation,” he concluded.

Wood and Sharland have since apologized for their outfits, calling them “ill conceived” and “hurtful,” according to Inside Higher Ed. Weldy hasn’t publicly commented on the incident.

All three will remain suspended pending the outcome of the investigation.

Students staged protests last week and have urged university leadership to take more permanent action against the professors involved, according to AL.com. An online petition says the photos were posted to the college’s Facebook page but removed in 2020, without further action.

“The casual racism portrayed by these professors cannot go unpunished,” students wrote in the Change.org petition. “The fact that these professors are still currently employed by the University shows a deep failure to commit to a safe, welcoming environment for students of all backgrounds.”

The petition had close to 3,000 signatures as of Monday.

This isn’t the first time that college students and professors have made headlines for sporting racist costumes at themed holiday parties. A California Polytechnic State University fraternity was suspended in 2018 after several members, one in blackface, “dressed as gangster stereotypes, throwing gang signs in front of their San Luis Obispo house,” The Washington Post reported that year.

In 2019, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam faced calls for his resignation after college yearbook photos showed him with his face painted black — a “costume” he sported to look like pop star Michael Jackson in a dance contest, McClatchy News reported. That same year, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey apologized for donning blackface for a play at Auburn University in the 1960s, according to NPR.