St. Thomas is investigating an ethnic slur found on a chalkboard in an O’Shaughnessy Educational Center classroom on Monday morning, according to a statement released by the university.

A faculty member reported the slur, which was a term historically targeted at Italian Americans, to St. Thomas Public Safety, and an officer documented the incident before erasing the board in the second-floor classroom.

“It was unclear how long the writing had been on the chalkboard, although the room was last scheduled for cleaning early Saturday morning. The room is not being used as a classroom this semester,” the statement said.

This is the fifth incident involving a racial or ethnic slur documented on campus in the last five years, including incidents in November 2016, November 2017, October 2018 and September 2019.

Anyone with information about this incident should call Public Safety at 651-962-5555 or the Public Safety Tips Line at 651-962-TIPS or pstips@stthomas.edu.

Mia Laube can be reached at mia.laube@stthomas.edu.