In a contested 12-11-2 vote and over two hours of debate, the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate passed a resolution on Sunday entitled "A Resolution Condemning Bias Incidents within the Tufts Community: A Response to the Bias Incidents Against the Tufts Queer Community of October 2006."
The resolution was written in response to the bias incident on Oct. 11, when the word "smut" was painted on decorations by the Queer Student Association (QSA) for National Coming Out Day.
The lengthy debate over the resolution concerned whether certain provisions should be rolled into the same document or addressed separately.
According to Senate Historian Neil DiBiase, "The Senate was unsure on how best to move forward and whether three resolutions would have been better than one all-encompassing one."
Dibiase, who voted in favor of the resolution, said that it could have been split into a resolution condemning the bias incident, a resolution discussing protocol and procedure for handling such incidents and a resolution urging the Tufts Human Resources department to fill the three open leadership positions in the Office of Equal Opportunity (OEO).
Among the more contentious elements of the resolution was a criticism of the "lapse in protocol" involving how the graffiti was removed.
The resolution says that "...after contacting Tufts officials, QSA students were left to remove the graffiti themselves," which according to QSA Community Representative Steven Elsesser, was not proper protocol.
"I spoke with the [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender] liaison [to the Tufts University Police Department], and she said there is protocol to cover up [defacements]. In this case, it wasn't
followed. Students had to call facilities, and, although they did bring them paint, the students were left to paint over the defacement themselves," Elsesser said.
According to Dean of Student Affairs Bruce Reitman, however, "This situation was unusual because the students wanted to put the rainbow back [on the cannon], but I don't think [the protocol] was broken."
The resolution also highlighted the fact that the administration had not made a public statement in response to the defacement. While some felt this was important to address, others disagreed that it was necessary or appropriate.
Elsesser, who co-wrote the resolution, called the administration's silence in this regard "a huge contention."
The administration, however, usually takes cues from the Bias Education and Awareness Team (B.E.A.T.) on incidents involving bias, according to Reitman.
"I find it very unfortunate that we continue to have a number of homophobic incidents on campus, but it's not always useful for the administration to comment [on them]," he
said.
He also added that the administration made its presence known at the "Stop the Hate" banner signing event that took place on Oct. 18.
The resolution also included a recommendation to fill the three vacant leadership positions in the OEO "in an effort to prevent bias incidents and coordinate effective responses by administration and staff."
"I saw this incident requiring more training for the faculty and administration, which would come from this office," said Elsesser.
One of these positions specifically addresses bias incidents, and the OEO would have been one of the main offices dealing with the defacement, he said.
Culture, Ethnicity and Community (CECA) Committee chair Zo? Gibson, disagreed and voted against the resolution. She felt that it was "not the right place" to discuss OEO's vacancies, though she agreed the positions should be filled as soon as possible.
Before one set of amendments was completed, the resolution included a statement about another incident in which two firecrackers were thrown into the Rainbow House, the LGBT special interest hosuing locating in the Hillside Apartments. This was removed because TUPD hadn't concluded that the occurrence was a bias incident, according to Dibiase.
The resolution also contained a section which claimed that the defacement was representative of other bias incidents that have happened at Tufts. Due to the lack of data on bias incidents available at the meeting, however, the Senate was "hesitant" to keep the statement in the resolution, said Dibiase.
TCU President Mitch Robinson, who abstained from voting with TCU Treasurer Evan Dreifuss, thought that the power of the resolution was diminished by details that "convoluted" the idea behind it.
