Two Sheffield universities are investigating four allegations of racism, including claims a black student was hit with a banana during an ice hockey game.
Tyrell Pearce, a PE student at Sheffield Hallam University, said a supporter of rival Sheffield University threw a banana at him at a match last month.
He said it was “the most racially abused I have been in my whole life”.
Three other incidents allegedly took place at Hallam library, according to Luke Renwick, president of Sheffield Hallam University students union.
One student claimed that someone had written on a library whiteboard that there were “Too many Asians (Brown ones)”, Renwick said on his blog. The comment had been left under a message from the library asking students for feedback, according to a report in the National Student online.
Another said they had been called a monkey by a member of staff after forgetting their student card. This prompted an allegation from another student that the same member of staff may have been racist to someone else the previous week.
Pearce told a student publication that he was wearing Hallam-branded clothing in a section of the ice hockey arena mostly populated by Sheffield University fans when he was hit.
When his friends, both Sheffield University students, went to get some drinks, the problems began.
“A few minutes after they left I felt something hit the top of my head. But I didn’t turn around,” he told the Tab.
“I chose to ignore it until I looked down and saw that it was a rotten banana. And I had the contents of this banana all over my head.
A Sheffield Hallam University spokesperson said: “The recent incidents that have taken place involving our students are in the process of being thoroughly investigated and where possible, action will be taken to prevent similar incidents from happening again. We are in direct communication with those affected by these incidents.
Source: The Guardian
