SOUTH JERSEY

Report: U of Alabama student from NJ apologizes for racist posts

Jim Walsh
The Courier-Post
University of Alabama student Harley Barber, identified in news reports as an Evesham resident, left school and was dropped from her sorority after posting racist statements on social media.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - A University of Alabama student from New Jersey, who said her sorority membership means “everything to me,” has been booted from the group after posting racist videos.

The student, Harley Barber, also has left the university after posting the offensive videos on a social media account on Monday.

"The actions of this student do not represent the larger student body or the values of our university, and she is no longer enrolled here," the school's president, Stuart R. Bell, said as a furor grew over Barber's videos.

Barber is an Evesham resident, according to the New York Post, which reported she had apologized during an interview.

“I don’t care if it’s Martin Luther King Day,” Barber says in one video, before repeating the n- word several times.

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“I’m from New Jersey so I can say n- as much as I want,” adds Barber. She then slowly states the n-word three times.

Barber took a different tone in an interview Wednesday with the New York Post, the media outlet reported.

 “I did something really, really bad,” said Barber, according to the Post. “I don’t know what to do and I feel horrible. I’m wrong and there’s just no excuse for what I did.”

A University of Alabama spokesman on Wednesday said the school was looking into the incident.

“These remarks are ignorant and disturbing and in no way reflect the values of The University of Alabama,” said spokesman Taylor Bryant.

“This unfortunate behavior has been reported to the Office of Student Conduct as it does not align with the community expectations of students at (the university),” he said.

In one video, Barber describes herself as a member of the Alpha Phi sorority, and expressed anger at the thought that someone might report her language to the organization.

“I wanted to be an Alpha Phi since I was f-ing in high school and nobody f-ing understands how much I love Alpha Phi,” she says, declaring the sorority “means f-ing everything to me.”

Barber, who apparently deleted her social media accounts, could not be reached for comment.

The videos did indeed doom Barber's membership, an Alphi Phi representative said.

"Ms. Barber is no longer a member of Alpha Phi,” said Linda Kahangi, executive director of Alpha Phi International Fraternity.

Kahangi called the remarks “offensive and hateful to both our own members and to other members of the Greek and campus community.”

She said “leadership and supporting alumnae” of the Alabama school’s Beta Mu chapter “moved quickly to address the offense.”

A popular bar near the university’s campus, Rounders, indicated it had acted against Barber because she allegedly made one of the videos in a restroom there.

“Obviously, she’s banned,” the tavern tweeted Wednesday.

Jim Walsh: @jwalsh_cp; 856-486-2646; jwalsh@gannettnj.com

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