One of Elizabethtown College’s openly homosexual students fell victim to a bias-related incident between the late hours of Sunday, March 10 and early Monday, March 11 in Ober Residence Hall. This specific incident occurred in response to the student’s sexual orientation rather than cultural background, which has been the focus of previous events of this nature.
More recently, on March 17 at 8:15 a.m., a Resident Assistant discovered “intimidating and harassing messages with a bias component” on two dry erase boards in Royer Residence Hall, according to Dean of Students Marianne Calenda.
With regard to the earlier anti-gay incident, Calenda stated, “It is a significant issue because the individual has been a strong promoter of gay rights on campus. He is trying to courageously lead the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) population.”
The College’s administration has not made any policy changes, despite the incidents that have occurred thus far in the semester. “The policies in place are adequate to deal with the individuals when caught,” Dale Boyer, assistant director of Campus Security, said. “The trouble is finding the person or persons responsible so the policies can be enforced.” Calenda agreed with Boyer’s statement but voiced hope that the College will increase the community’s awareness of this issue and help individuals become more proactive in prevention. “In the curriculum, we should be thinking of ways that introduce new students to diversity and follow through with an ongoing commitment to the issues of diversity,” she said. The College is required to quickly notify faculty, staff and students when crimes or other incidents occur that threaten the personal safety of the College’s community. This is explained in the Emergency/Clery Act Communication Protocol that is used by the College. As outlined in the act, the incidents worthy of public notification and the means of notification can be defined as “those which pose an immediate threat to the personal safety of members of the campus community (using EC Alert System),” and “those which do not pose an immediate threat to personal safety but which do fall under requirements of Clery Act notification, i.e. Timely Warnings (using ‘For Your Safety’ Campus Connections).”
According to Boyer, timely notices of incidents that are of a clear bias rather than immediate threat can be delayed if it could help the investigation. However, he feels that immediate communication with the College community is usually helpful in resolving these issues. “In this case, a campus-wide notification can assist with an investigation,” he said. “We have the opportunity to make the campus community aware, and hopefully someone with information will do the right thing and contact Campus Security or the Dean’s office.”
In order to remedy the repeated bias-related occurrences, Campus Security, the Dean of Students’ Office, Residence Life, Student Rights and Responsibilities, the Office of Diversity, Counseling Services and other faculty and staff members are working together. Students are reminded that they can report an incident to any faculty or staff member at the College at any time.
Student Rights and Responsibilities is accountable for punishing students found guilty of participating in the recent bias-related incidents, most likely through suspension or expulsion from the College. However, Calenda also stated that students who do not believe that their actions were seen as negative forms of harassment will receive additional aid. “We try to be educational in all of our work,” she said.
Calenda also hopes that students and victims will continue feeling comfortable speaking publicly about the incidents and holding public events in response to the continuing prejudicial occurrences. “It’s an opportunity to learn from each other,” she stated. “[It shows that] people are no longer going to sit by and observe, but step up and help mitigate this kind of bias in the future.”
Boyer and Calenda are still not sure as to why there has been such a surge of hate crimes on campus. “Are they drunk and just can’t control themselves, or are there deep prejudices that people feel are okay to express?” Calenda asked.
Calenda does not fear, despite the recent increase of bias-related incidents, that diverse prospective students will be deterred from applying to Etown but rather will be appreciative of the College’s decision to inform the public of the events. “Hopefully prospective students like how Etown is responding because all colleges have these issues,” she said. “I hope that students can appreciate being in a diverse community and learn from diverse perspectives.”
The College does not believe the more recent messages were targeted at specific individuals. Anyone with information concerning disruptive behavior on the third floor of Royer on March 17 is encouraged to contact Campus Security or Residence Life.
Although there are not any current suspects for the anti-gay slur, the College is continuing its investigation of the incident. “I think that only through awareness and a clearly stated position by students saying that this is not acceptable can we foster a climate where bias incidents have no place,” Boyer stated.