Hundreds rally against racism on campus

Students responded swiftly and vocally to the news of a Roncalli Hall incident on Oct. 12. From the organization of a rally that drew several hundred students and administrators to community meetings and a movement called TRUTH, campus leaders are calling for changes in institutional racism, which they say poses a major problem for the Boston College community.

But yet another occurence of "hateful speech" comes in the wake of the incident. Fliers were found on the main door of the CLFX lobby and connector lounge, Medeiros Hall, and Shaw House around midnight last night which read: "Join the White Alliance - 'Forge a Superior World.'" The fliers advertised a meeting tomorrow in Devlin Hall "to debate the merit of Martin Luther King, Jr., Day."

Whether or not such a meeting is actually scheduled to take place could not be confirmed, nor could the identities of the parties responsible for hanging the fliers.

The fliers were promptly removed, and a police report was filed at approximately 2 a.m. No other details were available at press time.

On Tuesday night, 100 people attended a meeting held in Cheverus lounge to address the Roncalli Hall incident, and a meeting held last night in O'Connell House also addressed the incident.

Rose Chou, AHANA Leadership Council (ALC) interim vice president and A&S '07, who was involved in organizing the rally held in the Quad Monday morning, said while last week's incident was definitely a catalyst, students are looking to address the overall BC environment. "Between the swastikas [found in the ALC office this summer] and racial epithets, this is a hostile environment in which AHANA students live," she said.

"The problem of hate crimes or incidences of intolerance on this campus is not new," said Noelle Green, ALC vice president 2005-2006 and LSOE '07, in an e-mail.

At the rally, Omolara Bewaji, ALC president 2005-2006 and A&S '07, articulated several changes she hoped the administration would make in the near future that could prevent similar occurrences. Among her requests were a change in the University history core, a centralization of University hate crime protocol, and a public database of hate incidents on campus. She acknowledged the existence of a protocol currently followed by the Office of Residential Life, which she said was not something needing to be changed.

Bewaji said centralization of a hate crime protocol and a clear, standard definition of a "hate crime" need to exist on campus. She defined "hate crime" as a "crime motivated by the victim's race, color, ethnicity, religion, or national origin" per the Black's Law Dictionary.

"We are asking for a profound change in the way these situations are dealt with," she said.

Dean for Student Development Robert Sherwood said action by the University will be taken when the facts of the case are proven. The case will be heard by a judiciary committee next week following the release of police reports, he said. "With a community this large, you can't always predict when and if these events are going to happen. We do our best to maintain standards, but we are open to suggestions."

Vice President for Student Affairs Cheryl Presley also addressed the crowd. "I wish I could tell you we're going to do A, B, and C to alleviate racism," she said. "But all of you know that would be a lie. We can, however, work with each other to diminish the acts of prejudice and racism." She stressed that while students expressed frustration at the lack of results dialogue has yielded, "talking is where it begins."

Presley said the University is looking at the history core and is meeting with students to address issues of concern. She also said the students involved were entitled to a fair procedure and clarified that the alleged perpetrators were not moved to Lower Campus, but that they were moved from their current room in Roncalli Hall.

At the rally, Deborah Levenson-Estrada, an associate professor in the history department, spoke out about the current history core, which can only be fulfilled with courses in Western civilization. "Your knowledge, your experiences, your lives should all be a part of the education of the whole campus," she said, addressing AHANA students.

"The current core upholds the white male European understanding of the world," said Bewaji, "and it belittles the history of oppressed people." Education and awareness would be concrete methods of stymieing racism, she said.

In hopes of perpetuating such education and awareness, students have joined forces in a movement they call TRUTH. Katrina King, A&S '07, said the movement was born out of response to the specific incident but that it looked to address the greater history of offensiveness against the AHANA and GLBT communities.

Bewaji said that while one of the goals of TRUTH is to resolve the issues surrounding last week's incident, the movement in no way is trying to infringe upon due process in the judicial proceedings.

"We are concerned about the way the University is run," she said. "We are advocating for three things: a centralized hate crime protocol, a clear hate crime definition that goes beyond federal law, and a biannual report detailing the nature of any hate crimes on campus."

Bewaji said she wanted to see a commitment from University officials to work with students in achieving results. "We're not asking for things that would complicate proceedings," she said. "We want to drive home that we are BC students who fell in love with BC and its values, and we would like to see these values upheld."

BC has an obligation as a Jesuit university to ensure the safety of its students, said Seif Ammus, CSOM '08. "It is not enough for BC to uphold just federal law," he said. "The school should make a concerted effort to address these issues not just because they have to, but because they want to."

Ammus said TRUTH aims to instill these values in the student body as well. "Being a 'Superfan' means more than just going to a football game. It means acting to make this campus a better place for those who have felt marginalized and threatened."

King echoed Bewaji in the call for a hate crime protocol published online in the same way protocol for harassment and sexual assault is iterated. "There also needs to be a definition of hate crime specific to BC that takes into account the needs of AHANA/GLBT students and the history of incidents on campus," she said.

"It is also important to look at the larger structural issues that reproduce these problems," said King. "Hate crimes are social racisms but there is also a structural racism that exists, and this reinforces the social racisms." She cited the core and the structure of academic cultural programs (which are not departments and cannot hire faculty) as examples.

"BC is an institution for education," she said. "It should be teaching its students about the history of marginalized people. If people are taught these things, hate crimes would not be as prevalent."