The public relations/marketing team at University of North Georgia is under fire after their spring course catalog featured two white men beating a black man & a woman in a race on the front cover.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution (among other outlets) called the university out over the overt “white guys, natural born leaders, historically win at life” message. The school was forced to respond to the criticism (because, you know, common sense?), so Associate Vice President of Relations Kate Maine told the Journal-Constitution that the image will not be used moving forward:
We are aware of the reaction to the image you noted. After looking into the issue, we determined that this is an isolated case of poor judgment, and was not intentional. However, the image was not representative of UNG’s commitment to diversity, and this will serve as an opportunity for increased dialogue about diversity issues and we expect that to better inform our processes and publications.
The image has been removed from the department’s website and social media pages, and the catalog will be reprinted before further distribution. Additionally, we have taken steps to provide for broader review of publications like this to ensure they fully meet institutional expectations and reflect our community and our values.
We would also like to point out that the offending picture is a stock image, meaning, not only did someone take it and not consider its subtext, but that other people are using it.
