University of Alabama student expelled over racist rant posted on social media

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - A 19-year-old student from New Jersey has been expelled from the University of Alabama after posting racist videos where she repeatedly uses a racial slur.

Harley Barber, 19, was also booted from her sorority, Alpha Phi, after posting the offensive videos on a social media account on Monday. The University of Alabama is looking into the "disturbing" incident.

"The actions of this student do not represent the larger student body or the values of our university, and she is no longer enrolled here," the school's president, Stuart R. Bell, said as a furor grew over Barber's videos.

Barber is an Evesham, N.J. resident, according to the New York Post, which reported she had apologized during an interview.

“I don’t care if it’s Martin Luther King Day,” Barber says in one video, before repeating the n- word several times.

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“I’m from New Jersey so I can say n- as much as I want,” adds Barber. She then slowly states the n-word three times.

Barber took a different tone in an interview Wednesday with the New York Post.

 “I did something really, really bad,” said Barber, according to the Post. “I don’t know what to do and I feel horrible. I’m wrong and there’s just no excuse for what I did.”

In one video, Barber describes herself as a member of the Alpha Phi sorority, and expressed anger at the thought that someone might report her language to the organization.

“I wanted to be an Alpha Phi since I was f-ing in high school and nobody f-ing understands how much I love Alpha Phi,” she says, declaring the sorority “means f-ing everything to me.”

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Barber, who apparently deleted her social media accounts, could not be reached for comment.

The videos did indeed doom Barber's membership, an Alphi Phi representative said.

"Ms. Barber is no longer a member of Alpha Phi,” said Linda Kahangi, executive director of Alpha Phi International Fraternity.

Kahangi called the remarks “offensive and hateful to both our own members and to other members of the Greek and campus community.”

She said “leadership and supporting alumnae” of the Alabama school’s Beta Mu chapter “moved quickly to address the offense.”

A popular bar near the university’s campus, Rounders, indicated it had acted against Barber because she allegedly made one of the videos in a restroom there.

“Obviously, she’s banned,” the tavern tweeted Wednesday.

Follow Jim Walsh on Twitter: @jwalsh_cp