STATESBORO — The Georgia Southern University writing and linguistics department was one of the first to publicly respond Thursday to the burning of author Jennine Capó Crucet’s book, but released an updated statement Sunday after claims of students gathered outside of Crucet’s hotel were nullified.

The original statement from Thursday included a line saying that students gathered outside of her hotel. After the owner of Georgia’s Bed and Breakfast, where Crucet stayed, confirmed there was no such protest, department chair Russell Willerton, Ph.D provided an update in the statement.

“Students did not gather outside her hotel, as stated earlier,” Willerton wrote in the statement. “I regret that I had included this unconfirmed statement and apologize for the error.”

The full statement from the writing and linguistics department can be read here.

McClain Baxley, The George-Anne Editor-in-Chief, gaeditor@georgiasouthern.edu