Indiana

DePauw University Students Interrupt Jenna Fischer Event to Protest Racist Messages Found Across Campus

The protest follows reports of racist threats being found in campus restrooms and a slur written with rocks at the 2,000-student school's nature park

Several dozen people interrupted an event with actress Jenna Fischer at western Indiana's DePauw University to protest racist messages recently found in the campus area.

The actress who starred in the TV comedy "The Office" was speaking Tuesday night in an auditorium at the private school in Greencastle when some students started shouting and unfurled a banner saying "We are not safe."

Video taken of the protest shows Fischer listening to the protesters and responding with "Oftentimes justice requires disruption and interruption of our scheduled lives."

The protest follows reports of racist threats being found in campus restrooms and a slur written with rocks at the 2,000-student school's nature park.

DePauw says investigations are continuing into who left the messages at the campus about 40 miles west of Indianapolis.

On Wednesday Fischer took to social media saying she'd be using her speaker's fee from the university to make a donation to the NAACP, The Anti-Defamation League and Trevor Project in the name of the students of the university.

"No student should feel at risk, or have to suffer the kinds of bigotry and hate these students have encountered," Fischer wrote.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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