Police Arrest Benjamin Elliott In Mizzou Graffiti Case

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Police said one person has been arrested in connection with racist graffiti that appeared outside of a residence hall on the University of Missouri campus early Saturday.

Residents of Hatch Hall on the southeast side of the campus said someone had spray-painted a racial slur on a statue outside the building. After the discovery, leaders at the dorm covered it up with paper.

Benjamin Elliott, 18, was taken into custody oveight and was later released on bond.

"I speak for our university community when I say we are dismayed and deeply offended and have zero tolerance for this type of hurtful and destructive behavior," Chancellor Brady Deaton said in a statement released Saturday afteoon. "MUPD is currently investigating and collecting evidence. Campus administrators, MUPD and student leaders will be in discussion regarding immediate and future actions to be taken. I ask that we come together as a Mizzou family to deplore this action and to celebrate the diversity of our community as one of MU’s greatest strengths."

Last February, two students spread cotton balls around the Black Culture Center on campus. The students were placed on two years' probation, had to surrender their driver's licenses for 60 days and had to perform 80 hours of community service.