The most expensive prep school in the country, the Lawrenceville School near Princeton, NJ, spent much of its spring semester mired in racial tensions. Maya Peterson, the school's first black student-body president, who is also a gay woman, was forced to step down for “mocking” white male students on Instagram.

Yahoo Shine reported that the Lawrenceville School — where annual tuition is around $53,000 and the student body is 55 percent white, 21 percent Asian, and 16 percent black/Hispanic — would not comment directly on the Peterson situation because of “privacy” issues. The school did, however, say this in a statement:

“The Lawrenceville School works hard to foster an inclusive, open, and engaging atmosphere that gives all students opportunities to be heard, feel respected and succeed. We do not tolerate racial discrimination and have had few issues on campus for many years now."

Fellow Lawrenceville students seem torn over the situation. One told BuzzFeed that Peterson’s actions seemed “hateful,” while another called her “a great face of the New Lawrenceville.”

“I’m not saying what I did was right,” Peterson told BuzzFeed. “But it wasn’t racist. I was just calling those guys exactly what they are. And Lawrenceville is the type of place where those kids are idolized.”

Read the full story.