Members of the University's Latino community have reacted with anger to an early Monday morning incident in which a Hispanic Heritage Week message on Beta Bridge was painted over with an offensive message.
The remarks included "Durty Sanchez, donde está?" and were accompanied by a painting of a Mexican sombrero.
"As college students, we know better than to use racially-offensive language in a public venue," said La Sociedad Latina President Catalina Ocampo.
Ocampo said a group of LSL students painted the bridge with the Hispanic Heritage Week message around 1 a.m. Monday morning, finishing around 2:30 a.m.
During the day on Monday, LSL members discovered that the bridge had been painted over with "clearly offensive" remarks, she said.
She said the situation was brought to her attention around 9 p.m., and she then spoke with members of Delta Upsilon fraternity, who she said admitted that some members had participated in re-painting the bridge.
DU is located directly next to Beta Bridge.
DU President Stephen O'Connor said the perpetrators include some fraternity members and people who are not members of DU but would not disclose any names.
O'Connor said the bridge incident was not sanctioned by the fraternity in any way, and the involved members did not intend to be offensive in their actions.
"The people involved in the incident want to let it be known that what was written on the bridge was not meant as a racial slur," he said.
He added that as soon as he learned of the incident, he had a group of brothers re-paint the bridge so it read "Hispanic Awareness Week."
Ocampo said the incident has caused a marked reaction in the Latino community.
The community has been getting together to decide how to respond to the incident, she said.
Asst. Dean of Students Pablo J. Davis, who works with the University Latino student community, said he learned of the repainting Monday evening, and has seen emotions ranging from anger to sadness to indignation.
"I don't know of any Latino student who's indifferent," Davis said, although he said there is not a consensus in the community as to what steps to take next.
"Different students have different action they would like to take," he said, adding that many students feel it would be best to have a "positive" discussion of the incident with the involved students.
Davis said that the anger has not been limited to the Latino community, but "members of others groups also have expressed outrage."
O'Connor said DU is a racially diverse fraternity and the members "do not condone any form of racism."
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