Black Denison University students called off a two-day boycott of classes Wednesday after the school's president stiffened the punishment for two white students found guilty of racial harassment. The Black Student Union, which had called the boycotts Monday and Tuesday, suspended the action after university President Andrew De Rocco ordered the two whites to leave the campus for the remainder of the semester. The students, who have not been identified by the university, were given until 5 p.m. Wednesday to leave. The University Judicial Board, comprised of four students and four faculty members, had earlier found the white students guilty of racial harassment of a black student and ordered the whites be suspended for the 1988 fall term. That suspension will remain in effect, but De Rocco on Tuesday night announced the additional sanctions. ``The issues raised by this case have led to an expression of intense feelings on the campus among students, faculty and others, to an interruption of classes and to an atmosphere that is not conducive to the orderly processes of student and faculty life,'' De Rocco said. The two white students were accused of harassing Aaron Laramore, a black senior from Toledo. Laramore claimed in a complaint he filed against the students that they pounded on the wall between their room and his and yelled racial epithets. The white students testified in their judicial board hearing that their remarks came in a private conversation. But the Black Student Union said the slurs were aimed at Laramore, the dormitory's head resident. Most students continued to attend classes during the two-day boycott, which was accompanied by rallies to protest campus racism and the initial one-semester suspensions. Bheki Khumalo, a member of the Black Student Union, said Wednesday said the group was not fully satisfied with the university's latest action, but believed the protest had accomplished its goal. ``Evidently, this was the best the president could do,'' Khumalo said. ``We've laid the foundation for more things to come on our campus.'' About 80 of Denison's 2,100 undergraduates are black, according to the university, a liberal arts school about 25 miles northeast of Columbus.
