HATE ON CAMPUS: 'We Haven't Fully Dealt With It'

Sept. 8, 2005 -- An "unprecedented" number of bias crimes have occurred against students at the University of Virginia since school started three weeks ago, leaving many fearful and frustrated.
By Camille Jackson | Staff Writer, Tolerance.org

The list is grim:

While waiting to cross the street to return to her dorm after lunch with a group of white friends, Shannon Benson, an 18-year-old African American freshman experienced her first brush with racism. As a white pickup truck whirled by, the driver yelled a racial slur at the group. Benson was the only black person in the group.

Returning student Phil Jackson found the N-word and "I hate Jesus" scrawled on the dry-erase board outside his campus dorm room.

A neighbor of Jackson's found an anti-Christian symbol made from firewood outside his dorm room the same night.

David Reid, a gay fourth-year student, reported that three passers-by confronted him, telling him he was disgusting and threatening to kill him. One said," Go ahead and get AIDS and do the world a favor and [expletive] die," according to reports in the The Daily Progress.
These and other incidents have happened on the University of Virginia campus, all within the first two weeks of school. Three of the incidents involved racial slurs yelled at black students from passing cars. In other incidents, the slurs were posted in dorms and on a bridge.
Police have not made any arrests.

In response, University president John Casteen, III, issued a videotaped message, emphasizing the importance of diversity. He also sent a mass e-mail to students and staff.

"The writer of the spiteful words and the passing motorist who shouts an insult have no place in a community built on trust and respect," Casteen wrote in the e-mail.

A history of intolerance
The University has a history of racial intolerance on campus.

In 2002, fraternity members attended a party in blackface. A year later, in separate incidents, a biracial student running for student president and a Peruvian student were attacked.

Some of the recent incidents — vandalism, intimidation — qualify as hate crimes. Others, where hateful speech is involved but no crime has been committed, are bias incidents.

This year, University of Virginia officials, with student approval, may make hate speech a violation of the campus honor code. In the meantime, the perpetrators could be punished under the university's "Standards of Conduct."

On Sunday, the school's Alumni Association offered a $5000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those engaged in racial acts of vandalism, threats or criminal misconduct.

Next month Casteen is expected to appoint an officer of diversity and equity. University spokeswoman Carol S. Wood told The Virginian-Pilot that officials will also put a reporting mechanism on the University's website.

Some say that students are more willing to report these incidents than ever before, giving the false impression of an escalation of bias crimes.

"In fact, there are not more incidents, but there is more transparency," Patricia Lampkin, chief student affairs officer, told reporters.

"It's a little more scary that people are talking about it now," says Scott Stroney of U.Va. Pride, an LGBTQ organization for faculty, staff and graduate students. "It's probably been going on for a long time. It's hard to tell — there was no measure before."

Says Stroney, who's been employed at the University for 17 years: "As an openly gay staff member, I don't feel any more fear or intolerance here, personally."

Others disagree.

"There is fear on campus," says Dean Rick Turner of the African American Affairs department. He says that the number of bias incidents against black students this year is "unprecedented."

On Monday, he consoled more than 30 African American parents concerned about the safety of their children and "academic interruption." Nearly 10 percent of the school's 13,000 undergraduates are black.

Some parents plan to come to campus to meet directly with President Casteen.

"None of us are satisfied yet," says Turner. "We haven't fully dealt with it yet."

Source: http://www.tolerance.org/news/article_tol.jsp?id=1286