Non-Story: Higher Educated Liberals find out FBI and cops have bigger fish to fry

April 5, 2013

Incidents of racial and anti-gay slurs roil Elizabethtown College campus

Elizabethtown College is investigating a series of incidents involving racial and anti-gay slurs.

More than a dozen such incidents have been reported since the beginning of February, a college official said.

The FBI is being consulted to determine if any of the incidents constitute hate crimes that warrant police prosecution.

So far, however, Elizabethtown Borough police have not been brought into the investigation.

"We are making everyone on campus aware of the fact that these types of incidents will not be tolerated at Elizabethtown College," said Amy Mountain, the college's director of communications.

Some disciplinary action has been taken by the college, although Mountain declined to provide any details, citing student privacy.

A nonstudent has been barred from campus. Mountain declined to identify that person or to discuss that person's actions.

Students and faculty have begun organizing events aimed at denouncing the hateful incidents, standing up for victims and increasing awareness about diversity.

"We will not stand for this as a community," said Stephen Boyhont, a junior from Lititz who is vice president of Allies, the college's Gay/Straight Alliance.

From the beginning of February through the end of March, campus officials received several reports about anti-gay and racist remarks being written on message boards that hang on dorm-room doors, according to Mountain.

One racist message used the word "kill," Mountain said.

Also, one student sent a threatening message to another via social media, and an anti-gay remark was scratched onto a bathroom stall.

Boyhont said he was the target of several anti-gay comments that were spoken in his presence and written on the message board on his dorm room.

"I would call myself a victim of ignorance," he said. "I don't feel any pain, I just feel pity for those who are doing this to me."

Besides his own encounters, Boyhont said he's heard "about people spitting on others and incidents of indecent name-calling."

And he heard about a threatening racist note that was written on the message board of an African-American student.

That note is one of the incidents the college has asked the FBI to examine.

"They are a resource for us to evaluate what happened and how it needs to be classified — whether it is a bias-related incident, a hate crime or a vandalism crime," Mountain said.

In addition to calling the FBI and taking some disciplinary actions, the college, among other measures, has:

Increased campus security presence in selected residence halls;

Hosted listening sessions with students and community-wide dialogue;

Planned to revise the harassment/intimidation policy to define bias-related incidents/hate crimes, and to provide clear instructions for how a community member should respond to these incidents. 

Upcoming events scheduled in the wake of the racist and anti-gay incidents include:

A candlelight vigil denouncing the incidents, today, 7:30 p.m., outside Brossman Student Commons.

Stop the Hate program April 10 outside the Jays Nest during the day.

Sit-in at Brossman Student Commons from 6 a.m. April 19 through 1 a.m. April 20 to support those victimized by the hateful incidents.

"I feel like the college is responding appropriately at the moment," Boyhont said. "They are very concerned."

Junior Katherine Tripp said she believes the school could do more to make students and faculty aware of what has happened, and of what is being done about it.

"I feel the school could have a better response to it," she said. "They're trying, but I feel like they need to give us more information.

"Most of the students don't know the extent to which these incidents are happening, and so they don't think it's as big of a deal as it is."

Amanda McCaffrey, a junior, said this semester's rash of incidents are the first of their kind that she's experienced since she began attending Elizabethtown College three years ago.

"My first reaction is, 'Are you serious?' " she said. "This is not what E-town's about ...

"E-town's the kind of place where you can be anyone and you are accepted."