Former UK student who was banned from campus after incident with Black student indicted

A former student at the University of Kentucky has been indicted on several charges after being caught on video using racial slurs and physically assaulting a Black student last year.

A video of Sophia Rosing went viral in November 2022, showing her apparently intoxicated and using "racial slurs and offensive language," according to a letter from Eli Capilouto, the university's president. Rosing was indicted Tuesday in Fayette Circuit Court on multiple charges including felony assault in the third degree of a police or probation officer.

The video shows Rosing repeatedly attempting to hit Kylah Spring, a first-year student from Memphis, while calling Spring racial slurs.

Rosing, a senior at the time, also allegedly attempted to bite Spring and, in a separate video, grabbed a shopping cart and appeared to push it toward Spring and another person. A resident assistant can be heard asking Rosing her name, and she continued to use the racial slur. A campus officer can be seen arresting Rosing at the end of the video.

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Rosing's lawyer later announced she would withdraw from the university. She initially pleaded not guilty to charges during an arraignment in November 2022 and was bonded out of jail the same day, according to an Associated Press report.

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Capilouto released a statement a few days after the incident in which he announced Rosing would be permanently banned from campus and ineligible to re-enroll at UK.

"As a community working wholeheartedly to prevent racist violence, we also must be committed to holding people accountable for their actions. The processes we have in place are essential," he said in the release.

The university also announced that it would be re-upping its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts by using a $10 million investment for its UNITE Research Priority Area, DEI learning modules for students in the university's UK 101 courses and "supporting small, minority-, woman- and veteran-owned businesses and vendors through our Supplier Diversity Program." The university also said it would remove and relocate a "controversial" mural from the 1930s, increase mental health support and a "renewed focus on DEI officers in colleges."

Rosing's next court date is scheduled for March 17.

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Contact reporter Rae Johnson at RNJohnson@gannett.com. Follow them on Twitter at @RaeJ_33.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Sophia Rosing indicted over viral incident at University of Kentucky