Members of the Black Student Union in Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, were appalled to find three racial epithets stuck on the door of their building. They responded, according to a New York Times report, by "blanketing the campus with posters condemning the act and challenging all students to examine themselves for racist attitudes." Three days later, Gilbert Moore, a junior at the college, revealed himself to be the perpetrator. Moore, who is black himself, said that he had no malicious intent and that his only purpose was "to promote more campus discourse on race relations." The college suspended him for a semester, leaving him, the Times said, "surprised by ... the severity of the punishment" and convinced that the system had failed him.

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