Smith Asks Local Officials To Look Into Racial Slurs

NORTHAMPTON, Mass.--Smith College administrators told a large gathering of students that they have asked the district attorney's office to look into a series of racist notes reported by Black students.

E. Shelton Burden, the school's affirmative action director, told 2800 students at an all-college meeting Monday that the latest note was reported this weekend.

Students at the exclusive women's liberal arts college staged a protest rally and marched on the home of college President Mary Maples Dunn last week after a Black student reported receiving an anonymous racist note on April 24.

"Anything this office can do, we're going to do it," District Attorney Judd J. Carhart said. He said investigators would begin work on campus this week and the notes would be sent to the state crime lab for handwriting and fingerprint testing.

Dunn vowed to expel the perpetrator, if found, and announced the formation of a committee to plan a day-long symposium on racism in America to be held in the fall.

But student leaders urged her to do more, including installing required courses and workshops aimed at combating racism.

"President Dunn, we are not asking you to remove wickedness from every heart...but we know you have the power to eradicate it from this campus," said Anuradha Aiyengar, president of the campus International Students Organization.