HAMDEN, Conn. (AP) -Three Qunnipiac University students were arrested and dismissed from the school Wednesday after an investigation into the racial harassment of three basketball players.
Police say 18-year-old Charles Merritt of Clifton, Maine, made threatening and harassing phone calls to the African-American players. Emily Loschiavo of Vermont and Courtney Stellway of New York, both 19, are accused of making a harassing call to a resident assistant at a Quinnipiac dorm.
Police say Merritt, a freshman, was a roommate of two of the players and knew the third. He was charged with intimidation based on bigotry and bias. The women were charged with harassment.
E-mail messages seeking comment were not returned.
Hamden Police Capt. Ronald Smith said the phone calls were made early Monday, several days after slurs were discovered on poster and cork boards outside the dorm rooms of three players.
Smith said the written slurs included a racial epithet and a drawing of a Nazi swastika, and the phone calls contained similar racial overtones.
The school has not identified the players involved and a spokesman for the athletic department declined to comment, citing the police investigation.
AP-ES-10-29-08 1904EDT
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