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Columbia University Football Player Charged With Hate Crime For Allegedly Assaulting Classmate

Erin Fuchs   

Columbia University Football Player Charged With Hate Crime For Allegedly Assaulting Classmate

Chad Washington

NBC New York

A Columbia University football player has been charged with a hate crime for allegedly assaulting an Asian classmate on campus, NBC New York reports.

Chad Washington, a 6-foot-4 defensive lineman, is accused of following a 19-year-old Asian classmate as he left his dorm Sunday morning, yelling slurs at him, and shoving him against a wall.

The alleged victim, who's 5 feet 7 inches tall, says Washington started heckling his female friends, and that Washington went after him when he came to the women's defense.

Washington, a junior from Oakland, Calif., recently wrote a column for the the Columbia Spectator arguing that athletes do not get enough respect on campus. Here's what he wrote:

I know I am viewed as an athlete first on this campus. Physically I look the part, and I often introduce myself as a football player. Yet as soon as I begin to mention my studies and the degree I am pursuing, people question my intelligence and seem to doubt my abilities as a student. Athlete is not a good category to be in.

Washington's lawyer, Daniel Fetterman, told NBC that his client was a "highly regarded student and athlete" and that the allegations aren't what actually happened.

"When all the facts come out, it will be clear that Mr. Washington did not commit a hate crime," Fetterman said, "and he will be vindicated."

One student told the Spectator that Washington seemed "fairly nice," while another said, "That is not something you'd expect at Columbia."

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