University of Florida Students Get Racist Texts About Pres. Obama
“The monkey got out of the cage.”
This mysterious phrase appeared on the cell phones of UF students, faculty and staff in the form of a text message Tuesday night.
Sent from the five-digit phone number 65586, UF spokesman Steve Orlando confirmed the text came from Mobile Campus, a national system UF uses to update students about campus emergencies.
Mobile Campus labeled the text messaging blip as “improper use” and locked its system to review all logs to find who sent the message and how it was sent, Orlando said.
Ian Fisher, a UF law school student said he first learned about the text through an instant message.
“My friend IM-ed me freaking out, and my roommate came in and showed me his phone,” Fischer said. “I got the text at 8:45 p.m. on the dot.”
He thought it was scary the emergency system could be hacked into, he said.
UF student Kamay Lafalaise said she was watching presidential inauguration coverage when she received the text.
Lafalaise said she thinks the text was a racist jab against President Barack Obama.
“I am an African-American, and I am offended,” she said. “I don’t want the person who did this to get away with it. It’s immature.”
Although she knew she would not get a reply, UF student Nancy Barker said she responded with a text of her own.
“I said ‘ President Obama will be a great leader regardless of ignorant and immature texts,’” Barker said.
Orlando said UF has no indication that the text was sent from the UF Alert System.
All that was known as of Tuesday night is that somehow the Mobile Campus system was used. There is a possibility right now that this incident goes beyond the University of Florida, he said.
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Follow Up Article: Criminal Investigation Over Mysterious Texts
A criminal investigation is under way over a mysterious text message sent Tuesday to University of Florida staff and students, officials with the text-messaging company and university police said Wednesday.
The message - "The monkey got out of the cage" - was sent around 8:45 p.m. to cell phones of tens of thousands of current and former students and staff. Public speculation on online message boards focused on whether it was a racist slur against President Barack Obama.
Mobile Campus CEO David Liniado confirmed an unauthorized individual sent the message from the company's system, which is typically used to send emergency alerts to UF. An investigation is under way about the source of the message, he said.
"We're working diligently to get to the bottom of it," he said.
UF spokesman Steve Orlando said the university's main concern is whether the UF alert system and its data were compromised, but early indications suggested otherwise.
"It does not look like it was hacked into," he said.
Liniado said most students and staff received the message, as well as some former students. There are no indications the message was received by anyone other than individuals who have at some time been associated with UF, he said.
Mobile Campus was started at UF in 2005 and has since expanded to colleges across the country. The company allows schools to send campus-wide emergency alerts about extreme weather or other problems, while also sending promotions to those who agree to receive such offers.
UF police spokesman Capt. Jeff Holcomb said the department is investigating but the source of the message might be outside the university.
"It may be out of our jurisdiction," he said.
Mobile Campus sent an e-mail apologizing to individuals who complained about the message. Liniado said the message was the first time the system was used for unauthorized purposes.
"This is the first of its kind," he said.
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it's a lot of bs about the actual hacking, rather than the message, but i thought people should know that even most liberal colleges still have racist douchebags wandering around.
did anyone else who goes to UF here get one? i didn't but my roommate and my other roommate's boyfriend did. it was creepy as shit at first, then my roommate's boyfriend remembered how all along the campaign trail, people were equating obama to a monkey and then it just got really irritating. everyone's facebook status reflected it in someway: half were pissed because they understood and the other had no idea what the fuck was going on.