Rally addresses recent campus hate incidents

Following a recent spate of "crimes of bias" detailed in Dean of Student's Bruce Reitman's Mar. 12 campus wide e-mail, faculty and students rallied on the porch of the campus center Wednesday in an effort to raise awareness.

Students and faculty took the chance to respond to seven events of bias recorded in the e-mail, six of which took place in the Tufts residential community. "We wanted to provide a place to express opinions and support to those victimized," peer educator Judith Neufeld said. "We wanted to raise awareness of what's going on. A lot of people had no idea about what happened here before the e-mail."

The rally entitled "Speak Out. Stop Hate," was sponsored by the Bias Intervention Team and marked its first campus wide event. Peer educators and members of the Bias Intervention Team led the event, which was planned to coincide with the opening of the play of "Spinning Into Butter" on campus.

The rally featured an open mic, with both faculty speakers as well as student speakers, in an attempt to provide a forum for self-expression. Dean of Arts and Sciences, Susan Ernst described the perpetrators in her speech as those who "lack courage to put themselves in others' shoes."

Reitman addressed the crowd and explained the group's title word "bias." According to Reitman, the word bias "is not just racism," but can include other components as well.

About 40 students and faculty gathered to listen to the speeches while many passers-by joined the crowd to listen as they shuffled through the campus center.

The first student speaker, Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senator Chike Aguh, described differences between the Tufts he saw in the viewbook and the one he has actually experienced. Although campus has people of many different races, "the people who talk to each other are the same," Aguh said.

In an emotional speech, junior Ariana Flores complained that no one was yet caught or punished for the incidents, and that campus awareness is lacking. "There's not enough people at this rally," she said.

For every reported incident there are many other incidents that go unreported, English professor Elizabeth Ammons said.

American Studies lecturer Jean Wu went further to describe the hate crimes as acts of terrorism on campus that indicated, "I don't approve of you, if you can't change, go away or go die."

At the end of the rally, senior Pete Shungu took hold of the open mic and recited a spoken-word poem, which he closed by saying, "the human race is the only race that matters."

The increased number of hate crimes on the Tufts campus in recent weeks may be attributed to the war in Iraq and the slow state of the economy, according to Reitman. "People are on edge," Reitman said, implying that hatred provides a channel for many to displace their insecurities.

Reitman said that if those students who have committed the crimes are found, they might face punishments as severe as expulsion from the University. Investigating those who committed the crimes will include following their patterns of behavior, such as repeated acts in the same location.

The Bias Intervention Team has no plans for other campus wide events for the rest of the year, but the group plans to put together a project for next year's freshmen orientation. The Team makes immediate contact with the victims when events take place and plans to lead more small group discussions in the future.

The rally coincided with the opening of "Spinning Into Butter" which takes place at a small New England college whose faculty has to deal with a racial incident.