This past week rumors about two separate incidents of hate crimes at Wesleyan began circulating on the campus. While Public Safety has not yet released a report about either incident, residence hall meetings, student forums and an e-mail by Dean Patton have substantiated the claims. Each of them reaffirmed the message that hate crimes are wrong and that they will not be tolerated at Wesleyan.
In direct response to these attacks and in the hopes of giving students a safe space to discuss the events, Sarah Gunther ’06 and Becca Seely ’06 organized two student forums to address the issues.
In their e-mail to students, they described the two attacks that had taken place: “Two weeks ago, ”fag“ and ”I love cock“ were written on a male student’s door in a first-year residence hall. In addition, there are unconfirmed reports/rumors that this past Saturday night, people were verbally and physically harassed or assaulted because they were perceived to be gay or queer. However, no harassment or assault was reported,” they wrote.
“Public Safety was notified by ResLife on Sept. 28 that two students allegedly had used the word ”fag“ on the previous Saturday, Sept. 25. Allegedly the students threw a ball at people,” said Maryann Wiggin, Director of Public Safety.
“[This is] very much connected to a larger history of hate crimes against queer students, students of color and others at Wesleyan. They happen all the time and we need to respond to them,” added Gunther and Seely.
The initial meeting drew a large crowd of about fifty students into the 200 Church Street lounge on Monday night. Among the attendants were Brandon Buehering, an Area Coordinator for 200 Church Street, Clark Hall and West College, and several other resident advisors, and many students.
The meeting began by establishing that it was useless to point fingers, and that educating people as to the effects of hate crimes should be the main objective.
“[While] hate crimes are directed at individuals, they can quickly spread,” said Michael Andolina ’05.
Students also asserted that this was not an isolated incident and has affected the entire community, which makes campus feel unsafe.
“Every incident that is shoved under the table makes campus a dangerous place,” said Sarah Gunther ’06.
According to Gunther, she feels safe from homophobic hate crimes.
“[I’m] white and gender normative. So I’m not the target of homophobic hate crimes,” Gunther said.
Yet, she worries about her friends and other students at Wesleyan.
“As a freshman I felt so comfortable. I didn’t come out to graffiti. Students trying to come to college need safety,” she said.
Another message of the forum was that hate crimes are not limited to sexual orientation. “Hate crimes happen all the time…it’s not an isolated issue. It happens to women, the poor, and people of different ethnicities,” Seely said.
The second forum held Wednesday intended to take the reactions and thoughts one step forward, and turn them into action. Possible changes that were specifically discussed included pledges for students to sign promising not to participate in hate crimes, flyers for safe spaces in residence halls, a visual arts project, a student safety network, wespeaks, a teach-in, kiss-ins (two students of the same-sex go to a crowded area on campus and make-out), chalking, and calling parents and alumni to inform them of the attacks.
“I was impressed by the consideration and passion students brought. I am consistently amazed by Wesleyan students and their ability to respond to problems. When people broke up into the different groups, you could tell that they really wanted to see projects to completion,” Buehring said.
This concern motivated Peter Patton, Interim Dean of the College, to write a campus-wide email Wednesday evening.
“I felt that as a result of the forum, there was wider publicity. I felt frankly that some students didn’t think me or the Administration as a whole was aware and actually handling the issue. So I wanted students to know that I held the same opinion, that these actions are unacceptable,” Patton said.
The overarching message of both of the forums and the e-mail is the necessity and importance of students to report hate crimes, and that Public Safety cannot investigate an incident that they do not know about.
According to Maryann Wiggin, the two students responsible for the Sept. 25 hate crimes have been identified, and their names have been passed on to Dean Mike Whaley’s office.
“I am concerned about reports and rumors,” Whaley said. “I feel frustrated that students have been unwilling or unable to report them. I hope that Dean Patton clarified the institution’s position in the e-mail. If folks witness or experience bias incidences they need to report them that is the only way we can appropriately follow up. It’s difficult for us within the Administration to provide accurate information if people don’t report them. We need to engage the entire community. Public Safety and the Administration can’t do it on their own.”
Students’ reactions to the rumors of the incidents and Dean Patton’s email were mixed.
“I think that BiLeGaTA should be mandatory, especially since some freshman may not be used to the environment at Wesleyan,” said Ana Weibgen ’05.
Worried that events such as BiLeGaTA attract only those who are already aware of the issues, students suggested that the entire community should be required to attend certain events.
“The students who do get involved are a self-selecting group that has chosen to do that. It’s easy to find your own homogeneous clique,” said Sarah Johnson ’05.
Many were shocked that hate crimes are a problem at the University.
“I come from a conservative area- everyone’s white. So Wesleyan was a big change. I was disappointed to read the e-mail. I know being here is different for each person,” said Emalee Riegler ’08.
Students still said that they feel that Public Safety is doing a good job and that they would go to them with information.
According to Wiggin, Public Safety strongly encourages students who are victims of a hate crime to report the incident.
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