Investigators from Stroz Friedberg Digital Forensics, owned by the international company Aon, will aid in the university’s efforts to identify the source of the emails sent to multiple Black student groups, Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy said in a message to the UMass community Tuesday night.
Beginning in late August, Black student organizations began receiving offensive emails and online messages telling them that they did not belong on campus and that they had limited intelligence. The messages, signed by the “UMass Coalition for a Better Society,” also suggested that Black students consider sterilization.
The emails, administrators have said, are part of an increase in anti-Black racism on campus that also includes an incident in which a motorist yelled an epithet at a group of Black students.
University leaders have come out forcefully against the messages, but the school’s police and technology staff have struggled to identify the sender of the emails.
“The online space makes it quite difficult for folks without very sophisticated systems to track down offenders,” Dr. Nefertiti Walker, UMass chief diversity officer, said Friday. “We also have to consider that the people who might be doing this are not trying to be found, so that also makes it difficult.”
Administrators are unsure whether or not the messages came from a student, Walker said.
“While we are mindful of the challenges of determining the source of anonymous emails such as these, we are confident that Stroz Friedberg, with its extensive expertise and technical capacity, will methodically follow every lead in pursuit of the contemptible individual or individuals responsible,” Subbaswamy said in announcing the firm’s hire Tuesday night.
The chancellor also noted a number of initiatives to curb bigotry and promote inclusiveness on campus.
A forum, titled “Black Joy, Black Healing and Black Justice,” will be held by UMass’ Center of Racial Justice and Youth Engaged Research on Oct. 5 to “bring together Black students from across the UMass Amherst campus for an evening of community, love and kinship.”
The chancellor also announced that the Center for Racial Justice will receive an increase in funding from the school.
Additionally, UMass will launch a Black Advisory Council, made up of students, faculty, staff and administrators to develop recommendations on improving the quality of Black people’s experiences on campus.
“When an act of hate occurs in our campus community a comprehensive response protocol is activated,” Subbaswamy said. “When the perpetrator of any of these acts is identified, the full weight of the university’s disciplinary and legal apparatus will be brought to bear.”
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