Recently at Kansas University, there have been a handful of instances where social media, offensive behavior and anti-discrimination policies collided — but it’s not totally clear who, if anyone, has jurisdiction over holding someone accountable. Here’s one such case.

Several photos surfaced on Twitter this week of three young women posing in hats and what appears to be blackface makeup, in what appears to be a basement rec room in somebody’s house. Several Twitter users who shared the photos, which appear to have originally been posted online via Snapchat, said one of the women in the photos was a current KU student and that the other two were high schoolers who put on the makeup and took selfies at a sleepover.

Disclaimer: We did not independently verify those claims in this case. But let’s say they’re correct, it had me wondering: Would KU have jurisdiction to investigate and punish a student for something that — while offensive — is not a crime, occurred off-campus and did not target any individual KU student?

The answer is maybe, according to university spokeswoman Erinn Barcomb-Peterson.

KU policy prohibits racial and ethnic harassment and discrimination. And “any person claiming to be aggrieved by a prohibited discriminatory practice at the University” can file a complaint with KU’s Office of Institutional Opportunity and Access, according to KU’s Discrimination Complaint Resolution Process.

Barcomb-Peterson would not comment on these particular photos or say whether anyone had filed a complaint, as IOA cases are confidential.

Speaking generally, Barcomb-Peterson said it would have to be proved that the act in question created a hostile environment on campus — either someone’s working, learning or living environment. IOA investigates that on a case-by-case basis, and there are numerous factors.

“Whether harassment is targeted at a specific individual is absolutely a factor the investigator examines,” she said. “Harassment can create a hostile environment, and harassment may not need to be directed at a specific individual when the actions are sufficiently severe or pervasive to alter the conditions of the individuals involved.”

Barcomb-Peterson said the university holds that online acts can create a hostile environment for individuals on campus, too, but again investigators would need to consider them on a case-by-case basis.

Rewind to April, another similar incident that comes to mind is that of the fraternity members (ironically a Jewish fraternity) in a social media video that appeared to mock Muslims. KU was not involved with discipline in that case. In an older case that went all the way to the Kansas Court of Appeals, KU disciplined a student for sexually harassing his ex-girlfriend over Twitter. The court ruled that KU did not have jurisdiction to do that, although since the incident KU has updated its code to clarify that it does have off-campus jurisdiction in Title IX cases.

• Latest on Halloween house party: In news of a somewhat related vein, no charges have been filed or arrests made in connection with an altercation involving alleged racial slurs that reportedly occurred at a house party on Halloween night, according to Lawrence Police Sgt. Trent McKinley, whom I checked in with this week. McKinley said police have identified most of the individuals involved, but not all have been located or interviewed yet.

“We have conducted numerous interviews related to this incident and the investigation continues to progress,” he said. “It is still an open, active investigation with detectives assigned to it.”

About 1:40 a.m. Nov. 1, officers responded to a report of an “out of control” house party in the 1300 block of Kentucky Street. Police are investigating the case as a battery and aggravated assault. Black Student Union president Kynnedi Grant said, to the crowd at KU’s Nov. 11 town hall forum on race and earlier that week on her Facebook account, that white males confronted her and some black friends, called them racial slurs, spit on them, put one of them in a “chokehold” and pulled a gun.

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