8 at Citadel suspended over KKK-type photos

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Civil rights activists called Friday for the resignation of The Citadel’s president after online photos surfaced showing cadets with pillowcases over their heads similar to Ku Klux Klan garb, but the president says he isn’t quitting.

The South Carolina military college issued a statement saying retired Air Force Lt. Gen. John Rosa has no plans to step down as president and will honor his contract running until 2018.

The school said seven students shown in the photos wearing the pillowcases have been suspended along with an upperclassman who was photographed but did not dress up.

College spokeswoman Kim Keelor said the eight have gone home and are not permitted back on campus. She said there’s been no decision on whether they might be allowed to return.

Photos on social media this week showed the cadets wearing white Tshirts and white pants with the pillowcases on their heads.

Rosa called the images “offensive and disturbing” in a statement Thursday. He said reports indicated the cadets were singing carols as part of a “Ghosts of Christmas Past skit.”

Civil rights activists gathered Friday across the street from a school gate calling for Rosa to resign and for a Confederate flag in the school’s chapel to be removed.

“We believe that accountability starts at the top,” said James Johnson of the National Action Network. “What those students and the leadership have done is open up a wound that is hard to close.”