Forum called to address hateful acts in Wiley Hall

Issue date: 2/22/08 Section: News

One or more anonymous individuals wrote derogatory statements on a bulletin board in Wiley Hall.

Around 30 professors, administrators and staff members toured Wiley Hall to see where vandalsim had been occurring.

At 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 20, Hanover faculty, staff and students gathered in the basement of Wiley Hall to discuss recent hateful acts that occurred on Wiley Third North.

Sometime during the evening of Saturday, Feb. 16, one or more people wrote derogatory comments directed towards homosexuals and women on a bulletin board.

The bulletin board was intended for residents to write reasons why they liked Hanover, but someone or several individuals anonymously wrote "fuck fags" and "cunt" over other comments.

Senior Jessica Hoover, RA of Wiley Third North, noticed the new slogans that same night and hung newspaper over the board. By Monday morning, maintenance staff had removed the bulletin board from the wall.

Hoover's next step was to research whether or not the comments fell into the hate crime category. With the help of Dr. Stephanie Funk, assistant professor of sociology, and the FBI website, Hoover discovered that the slogans fit the criteria for a hate crime. Funk first defined the derogatory comments as a crime as it fits into the "Vandalism of Property" category. Funk went further to classify the vandalism as a hate crime, which would "indicate whether the offender was motivated to commit the offense because of his/her bias against a racial, religious, disability, sexual-orientation, or ethnic/national origin group," according to the FBI website.

Several students at the forum expressed their concern over the bulletin board defacement.

"I don't live in Wiley, but I can't just sit back," senior Lauren Prezbindowski said. "I'm worried that something's going to happen to me. I need to be safe."

Sophomore Ariel Stewart, a resident of Wiley, also shared her alarm.

"It makes me feel very unsafe, very threatened," she said.

When around 30 faculty and staff members arrived at Wiley, Student Hall Director Amy Lange, Hoover and Luke Zwanziger, another RA, took the group on a tour of the resident hall. During the tour, Lange and Zwanziger showed the faculty and staff where different events had been happening. On the third floor, Hoover showed the group into her room, where she currently keeps the vandalized bulletin board and other flyers from around the hall that have been defaced.

Following the initial tour, the faculty and staff went to the basement to meet a number of students who live in Wiley, and several who do not, in order to discuss what has been happening.

"A lot of people on campus say this is overreacted," sophomore Nick Waterfill said. "This is something that has been happening all year."

Throughout the forum, several students talked about other events that have occurred in Wiley during the school year. These events included urination on room doors, knocking a porcelain water fountain off of the wall, writing racial slurs on dry erase boards hanging on residents' doors and other vandalisms.

"One of the most vulgar things is when you disrespect people's personal property," sophomore Rodney Johnson said.

Sophomore Jeremy Castle agreed.

"I can't have things out in the hall anymore," he said. "I don't leave stuff outside that I can't afford to lose."

Faculty and students discussed what the cause of the acts might be during the forum. The late night vandalisms could indicate a feeling of disconnect within the college community, Dr. Miriam Pittenger, an associate professor of classical studies, said.

"If there are elements in our campus that are causing this, we need to heal," she said.

Other professors had different ideas as to the motivations of the anonymous acts.

"These people are cowards," Dr. Jeff Brautigam, an associate professor of history, said.

Senior Allison Rief also had a different opinion in regards to why vandalism is occurring.

"People feel like they're being parented on campus," she said. "We're treated like little kids."

Rief added that the vandals could be acting out in response to what they viewed as restrictive rules on campus.

Dr. Margot Tomsen, and English professor, brought up the idea of instituting a required meeting at the beginning of each school year to address these issues.

"People might see they could talk about those issues," she said. "It doesn't seem too punitive."

Students often do not attend educational programming in the dormitories, even if the programs are mandatory, Lange said.

Castle said he doubted the effectiveness of such programming.

"This is something that's not going to go away with a set of meetings," he said. "Something in our culture has to change."

The culture is already changing, Dr. Michelle Mamberg, assistant professor of psychology, said.

"This is amazing that we have this many students, faculty and staff talking," she said. "This conversation is going to change the culture."

The forum was a starting point for the community, but there were many questions as to what the next step should be. Participants discussed patrols in the hallways, a 24-hour hotline, revising the Pearls and Onions forum online, dismissing perpetrators from Hanover and other ideas.

"You know I don't want this to be a police state," DeWine said. "But do we have to have drastic action?"

One example that DeWine addressed was hiring a professional to patrol the halls in Wiley from midnight until the early morning hours. Another option could be video cameras.

"We can't expect RAs to do this," DeWine said in regards to 24-hour surveillance.

Some people at the forum disagreed with the need for an outsider to be brought into Wiley, but others agreed.

"Maybe bringing outside people in could be helpful," Stewart said. "I don't want to talk to these people. I don't want to confront people. It's scary; it's intimidating."

Rick Bennett, assistant professor of art and resident fellow of the Rivers Institute, said that it should not be the students' responsibility to police their peers in these types of situations.

"It's irresponsible for us to tell you to confront people," Bennett said. "This is criminal behavior."

Senior Chan Nelson talked about setting up a 24-hour hotline for support when students experience these types of events.

"Just someone to talk to is a step," he said.

DeWine agreed with Nelson's idea for the hotline. Another step will be to eliminate the anonymity of Pearls and Onions on the intranet site. Pearls and Onions is an online forum where individuals can post their opinions anonymously about any issue.

"We ought to make people own their comments," DeWine said.

Whatever the answer for these types of problems is, the community needs to be completely supportive, Lange said.

"I want the whole hall to be invested in the solution," she said.

Some participants at the meeting called for harsher campus consequences.

"I want to emphasize having a very real punishment for very real crimes," Jim Gregory said. "Our rules allow crimes to be passed off with slaps on the hand."

DeWine disputed this point, saying that students have been expelled this year for extreme behavior.

"There may be some individuals who don't need to be in this community," DeWine said.

Prezbindowski agreed with DeWine.

"If they're not willing to be a part of the diverse community, they shouldn't be there," she said.

The entire program lasted around two hours until Lange had to cut it off for time restraints.

However, "we'd like to continue the conversation on campus," she said.

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