A Northwestern football player was charged with disorderly conduct on Martin Luther King Jr. Day after a snowball was thrown at two students who say the incident was racially motivated.

Colby Clark, 19, told police he threw a snowball at the women Monday but denied using a racial epithet against them, said Lt. Shaun Johnson of University Police.

“We were able to rule out, at least from him, that there was any racial motivation behind it,” Johnson said. “It was more just goofing around.”

Speech junior Dené Brown said she and a friend, who asked not to be named, were leaving the Multicultural Center at about 10 p.m. when a chunk of ice almost hit them.

“We couldn’t figure out what happened,” Brown said. “We didn’t understand.”

Brown said she turned around to see who threw the snow. Her friend then called out to a group of two men and four women walking north on the sidewalk of Sheridan Road, Brown said.

“She was very angry, so she was shouting things to them,” Brown said. “But the moment she got quiet, that’s when she heard (a racial epithet). They were laughing as if the joke was funny.”

Brown said one student put his hands in the air to “raise the roof.”

“He looked toward us as if to say, ‘What are you going to do about it?'” Brown said.

Brown and her friend then went to the Black House to call UP. Three officers met the women, who helped them find the six students.

Johnson said all six students denied using a racial slur.

Clark, a Weinberg freshman and defensive lineman on the football team, declined to comment. He is scheduled to appear Feb. 21 at Circuit Court in Skokie.

For Members Only held a forum Wednesday at the Black House to discuss the incident. About 125 students attended the two-hour discussion, said Chavis Richardson, FMO coordinator.

During the meeting, UP Chief Saul Chafin told FMO members that the incident wouldn’t be classified as a hate crime because none of the students admitted to using a racial slur and no one was physically hurt.

FMO members decided to mobilize a response to the incident, including campuswide fliers, a rally and a letter-writing campaign to administrators.

“Racism is still evident on Northwestern’s campus,” said Richardson, a Weinberg junior.

Richardson also spoke at Wednesday’s Associated Student Government meeting to remind senators of the anti-hate crimes legislation that was passed last year.

“It was upsetting that it had to happen on MLK Day,” said Le’Jamiel Goodall, FMO vice coordinator. “But it doesn’t matter — it’s just like any other day.”