The University of St. Thomas issued a response Friday to a viral video of a St. Thomas student shouting a racist insult at protesters outside a Turning Point USA event Wednesday at the University of Minnesota.
The student could be seen in one video posted to Instagram shouting “Go back to your own country,” followed by an expletive, outside a speaking event for anti-transgender activist Riley Gaines. The video had 7.2 million views as of Friday afternoon and nearly 15,000 comments, many of which tagged or mentioned the University of St. Thomas.
The university posted a statement to its online newsroom Friday, saying:
“Please know the university began looking into this incident as soon as it became aware. While student privacy laws prevent us from publicly discussing matters such as these, we can share the language heard in the video is inconsistent with the university’s values and convictions. As a Catholic university, we have a responsibility to provide a welcoming environment for all and do not condone hateful language being used by anyone in our university community.”
The university also stated that it would address the issue in accordance with the student code of conduct. With regard to off-campus code violations, the 2026 student code states that the university retains the right to discipline off-campus conduct “that adversely affects the St. Thomas community or is detrimental to the educational mission and/or interests of the University.”
As of Friday, comments were disabled on posts from multiple university Instagram accounts, including @uofstthomasmn, @ust_studentaffairs and @stthomasadmissions.
Kevin Lynch can be reached at lync1832@stthomas.edu.
Grace Woelfel can be reached at woel8456@stthomas.edu.
