Two University of Utah students were walking across Fort Douglas Boulevard around 9:30 p.m. when a vehicle passed them, its occupants allegedly shouting anti-Asian and other racial slurs at one of them. The vehicle then turned around, and up to six boys between 15 and 16 years old got out, surrounded the students and kept yelling slurs before one of the teens grabbed a student and punched him in the face.
The university is now investigating the on-campus incident, which it says involved alleged race-based targeting and assault, according to FOX 13 News Utah. After the confrontation, the targeted students walked away from the scene, leaving the suspects behind. A Campus Safety Alert was issued Friday, nearly 18 hours after the incident was first reported to the university.
What the University Says About the Confrontation
University of Utah Police are asking anyone with information about the assault to contact the department directly.
In its statement, the university said it condemns acts of violence, intimidation and discrimination, and emphasized that it is committed to supporting those affected by such incidents. The Office of the Dean of Students is available to provide support to students who need assistance following the incident.
A Reporting System Built Over Four Years
What is documented is the university's broader framework for handling bias and hate reports: for more than four years, the University of Utah has reported potential hate crimes to the campus community.
Since 2021, the school's Racist and Bias Incident Response Team has shared reports of potential hate crimes with the campus community, and the university notes that this reporting continues today through an updated bias incident report process.
Past Incidents Logged in the University's Archive
The university maintains a public archive of bias incidents reported between 2020 and 2024, documented by the campus safety office. That record includes an anti-Asian hate incident at the J. Willard Marriott Library and another at the Stadium TRAX Station, where a student reported being harassed by a woman who repeatedly yelled racial slurs and insults.
The same archive also lists a report from two White-identifying students who said an individual shouted a racial slur at them from a moving vehicle. The open case tied to Fort Douglas Boulevard has not been confirmed as a hate crime in a legal sense; the university's materials describe it as an allegation under its bias-incident reporting categories, and the status of any police investigation beyond the initial report remains unclear.
