Below is the transcription of an exclusive interview with Sarah Goodrich, the subject of Sunday’s racially insensitive snapchat, that surfaced throughout the Quinnipiac University community. She was interviewed by Q30 reporter Sierra Goodwill.
Sierra Goodwill :44
“Thanks guys. So Sarah, thanks so much for sitting down with me today. So, you’re a freshman only been on this campus for three weeks. What’s it been like so far with your new roommates, making new friends, the whole process can be a little intimidating.”
Sarah Goodrich :58
“It’s definitely been an adjustment, but very exciting. I knew some people coming which made it a lot easier. Definitely a little homesick. Especially I miss my dog, definitely the most. But other than that I love my roommate so that’s helped a lot. But yeah, it’s fun, it’s exciting…There’s so much here.”
Sierra 1:20
“So what have you done to get involved in your first three weeks? I know it’s early and all the opportunities can be a lot, but what have you done so far?”
Sarah 1:28
“I signed up for a dance group and it hasn’t started yet, but I’m excited I used to do dance. So, to be able to do that would be really fun.”
Sierra 1:36
“Nice. How long have you done dance for?
Sarah 1:38
“Well I did gymnastics for like my whole life. But I had to stop and I was hoping to…. but I’ve been hoping to do acro and tumbling team here but I didn’t get cleared by my doctor. I had some back problems to be able to do that. But dance has always been like my go-to after that. I’m so excited to be able to do that here too.”
Sierra 2:06
“Awesome. The balance of college work now is a little different than high school. What’s your major?”
Sarah 2:10
“I’m undecided science.”
Sierra 2:12
“Nice. What made you choose sciences?”
Sarah 2:14
“I’ve always liked sciences. I like math and science more than other subjects. I’ve always wanted to be a pediatrician and so that’s definitely sciences, so that’s where I wanted to start to make sure that’s the path I want to go on.”
Sierra 2:29
“Your social life is becoming in full swing. If you could go through a typical weekend so far at Quinnipiac what is usually been up to?”
Sarah 2:39
“Luckily I know some friends who are in the air-conditioned parts…. So we just go and hang out there. A lot of music and dancing. Going out to eat and this is totally a new area so exploring like restaurants around here and everything. So that’s pretty much, hanging out a lot. Ice cream nights, just the typical what I would do at home pretty much on the weekends.”
Sierra 3:07
“Nice. So you talked about your typical weekend at Quinnipiac, but I can imagine this past weekend has been anything but typical for you. Talk about on Sunday morning you woke up, it was a regular Sunday morning…What were your activities of the day?”
Sarah 3:23
“I do weekly facials, my mom’s an esthetician. And so I’m kind of strict about my skin routine, I got that from her. I had just been kind of hanging out with my roommates in my room and just I came in, they were playing music and then I usually use a charcoal face mask. It’s really good for my skin so I chose that. So we were just hanging out. It definitely didn’t um go as um as …
So I just came in and all my friends kind of made fun of me for my skin routine is very ..like I do it every week. I just come in and they were all dancing around and just having fun and my roommates were taking pictures of me and I didn’t really care because I always just do my thing kind of. So then, all of a sudden one of my roommates, she said ‘oh that’s so strange that someone screen-shotted my story of you in a mask.” My first thought was “Oh my god, that’s so embarrassing.’ Like it’s me in like a facial.. Not flattering. And then she showed me it and I was like, I was like ‘oh my gosh, how long has that been up?’ I knew right then I was like, I said to the student, I said do you know what that means? I was so just upset by it obviously. And I went to public services and like already then it was out of my hands because it was posted already, and um it was-and they interviewed and everything-and they knew and everything, and I didn’t know it was up. It was just so crazy, so fast.”
Sierra 5:27
“So you didn’t know that the photo was posted with the caption it had until someone had already screenshot it, and you had seen it on the student’s phone.”
Sarah 5:35
“Yeah, that’s when-my phone’s actually broken. The touchscreen doesn’t work, so I didn’t even see it when she showed me when she noticed the screenshot, that’s when I saw it. And then my friends were sending me pictures of it up, and then there was no way I couldn’t see it.”
Sierra 6:00
“So you said right after you went to public safety or public services. What was that interaction like? What did you say to them? What was their response immediately to you?”
Sarah 6:08
“Oh, I didn’t know what to do, because I was like, I didn’t know how this photo is going everywhere. I was like, please make it ‘It wasn’t what it looked like.’ And I knew that, and of course they like, once they learned what happened because from first, their initial thought, hearing very upsetting, obviously upsetting things from students that saw it before I did things from students who saw it before I did. And they’re upset and concerned. So when he showed me it I was like, ‘yes that’s the photo of me and my facemask.’ And I was like I did not know that the caption was on it and that it was posted like that, so it was just-they understood then that it was much more complicated than they had thought too.”
Sierra 7:11
“So what was the next step that night? Like what were your actions that night leading up to til you got to bed?”
Sarah 7:18
“Um, leading up until I got to bed, it was a lot of me trying to just get out like what, what, what…I was just so overwhelmed. It was just insane. So it was pretty much me just trying to get across that, because once it was up, there I am like scrolling through this post like unable to do anything about it looking at all these comments and so angry, and rightfully so, but then I had nothing to do with it, and I’m so I’m just kind of sitting back in public safety, and they were being extremely helpful about it, so I kind of had to wait for them to do their job about it and make sure they could do whatever they could to prevent from further…”
Sierra 8:20
“So when your family and friends back home got wind of it, what was their immediate reactions?”
Sarah 8:25
“Oh there was no doubt when they first saw it. So many people were reaching out, especially my close family and friends. They were absolutely devastated by it. They knew that I would just never condone the message that that picture sent. My mom and dad were just absolutely heartbroken by it, because they knew how upset I was by it. And so my other family and friends they were all contacting me saying they knew I would never post that and they support me, and if I ever need anything and so I just got so much support. And a lot of my friends from my high school, especially some of my African-American friends who I was really close with, they were contacting me obviously upset when they saw the post, and they came to me and they were like, ‘Sarah, what is this? I know that you wouldn’t do something like this,’ but of course they couldn’t help but see what it looks like. And after talking to them and telling them what happened, they were like, ‘Sarah you need to tell people that, because if they don’t know that, you know exactly what it looks like. And they were like, that’s not-I know you would not do that, but you need to speak up because that’s not what people see.”
Sierra 9:57
“Now obviously mom and dad just sent their girl off to college just three weeks ago when this happens obviously. I’m sure they had a big reaction. What have they-how have they reacted to this, and what have those talks between you and them been like?”
Sarah 10:20
“They’ve all been like so supportive. I know my dad and I are really, really close and he’s been doing everything-I know he wanted me to come home right away just because he wanted me safe, but I knew. I said, ‘Dad, I didn’t do anything wrong.’ And so I said, ‘I need to stay here so that I can make sure that this is all worked out.’ And so it’s definitely hard on them because they’re worried constantly. My mom is worried because people do like get upset by it, and if they do see me and recognize me, that can be a scary thing when they don’t know what really happened.”
Sierra 10:57
“Obviously this process has been ongoing there’s been discussions and meetings. How involved have you been in those meetings in the outcome of the situation?”
Sarah 11:06
“I’ve been speaking with Shawn a lot who is the dean of I think of students and he has been um constantly updating me and telling me what’s going on and asking what he can do for me because he knows the position I’m in. it’s extremely unfortunate and he and everyone else feels really terrible and so he’s been like updating me and I’ve been talking with him a lot and just trying to say and do whatever I can to help clear this up.”
Sierra 11:49
“So this has obviously been so much for any student but especially you just getting acclimated to college life. Have you reached a breaking point in all of this?”
Sarah 12:03
“It’s really it’s surreal. I’ve just been trying to just learn from it and that’s what my parents have told me. They said that you’re gonna be in positions that you didn’t, you didn’t, that its not gonna be what it looks like and you’re gone but they said you know who you are and you know what happened and that you have a pure heart and they know that. And they said so all you can do is just build from it and people will eventually see the truth and that’s all that you can do is just be strong and just keep your chin up.”
Sierra 12:44
“Obviously it’s been kind of the talk of campus , good and bad, people have all– kind of opinions in the world but you hear these people talking about it not knowing that it’s you. Have you ever wanted to stand up and be like hey like that was me, this is the real story?”
Sarah 13:00
“Yeah, actually in one of my classes, it was FYS, a freshmen class and the last five minutes is the teacher actually spoke and said I wanted to take this time, I know you’ve probably heard of the events that have been going on, and I wanna give you this time to talk about it and um my heart was almost like beating out of my chest and then the room was like silent and then people started to talk about it and the teacher had no idea, none of them did, it was me. Then some kids were like “oh my gosh I feel really bad for her, like the girl in the photo” but they were saying “I don’t really know what happened” and a lot of stuff was being thrown in the air and so eventually i just stood up and I was like um and I just told them that is me in the photo and I’m telling you that she didn’t know, like me, I didn’t know that the photo was being taken and once I told them all the truth then a group of I think 6 or 7 girls stayed after class and they were like “I’m so sorry” like they really felt very empathetic towards it. I think once they realized that the student was just like in their classroom around them and they didn’t even know and i think hearing it from me um is what really made them see the truth and that I had nothing to do with that.”
Sierra 12:44
“I think there’s been a lot of people in your situation worldwide, nationwide, who have been misunderstood, who have been shed in a negative light, who didn’t necessarily deserve to be there so what is your message to all those people?”
Sarah 15:01
My message would be that you cannot believe everything that you see on the media and that things are not always going to look like you want them to and people are always going to have different perspectives on things and you’re not gonna get everyone on your side. But as long as you know who you are and you know what the story is and what really happened then you have nothing to hide and that’s all you have to stand by is what you really know in your heart and the truth.”
Sierra 15:37
“And obviously that picture has been made national news, New York Times, Barstool Sports and all these people have formed opinions of you but all they can see is like the girl behind the mask, but who is Sarah Goodrich behind the mask?”
Sarah 15:53
“I am not what that caption portrays in any, I do not condone what that entire image says, I am Sarah Goodrich is the girl who does weekly facials and that’s it. So it is just crazy that some of the things that have been twisted on that but um I think the people who know me, know me and that’s not me.”
