GSU Students Speak Up About Soccer Player’s Racial Slur On Social Media
Georgia State University's Perimeter College in Clarkston will administer classes for refugees through its community-based English program in the fall of 2023.
Alison Guillory / WABE
Another student leaving college for using a racial slur on social media. This time, at Atlanta’s own Georgia State University.
Last Friday, Natalia Martinez, a freshman soccer player at GSU, used the N-word on her “Finsta” account, a fake Instagram that is supposed to be more private. Other students on campus caught wind of it and so did the team.
School officials said she was suspended from practicing with the team. And another student started a petition calling for Martinez’s expulsion.
Martinez withdrew from the university voluntarily Monday.
It’s a complicated issue and one that has affected students differently.
“What she did was wrong,” said GSU senior Danielle Holder. “But I just felt like people were saying she needs to get expelled and stuff was like a bit much.”
University officials said there were no plans to expel Martinez because she hadn’t broken the university’s student code of conduct.
The dean of students had planned to talk to Martinez about the post. But the soccer player withdrew before that conversation could happen.
“Because she’s Hispanic and I’m Hispanic, I was just ashamed,” said first-year law student Kenneth Varela.
Varela said the N-word is commonly used in parts of the Hispanic community, but he doesn’t feel comfortable using it.
“I’m a very big proponent of the freedom of speech,” Varela said. “But you do have to be held accountable for what you put on social media. So the backlash, I get it. I think people are like, ‘Yo, we don’t want you here because you’re going to be a representative of Georgia State.’”
GSU freshman Jamon Sutton summed up the overall message many students conveyed around campus Tuesday.
“I don’t think she meant to offend,” Sutton said. “But I don’t think she should have used the [N-word] and I don’t think you should use it if you’re not black.”
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