"We're speaking out against the fact that there is no public or institutionalized hate crime protocol," said Omolara Bewaji, 2005-2006 president of the AHANA Leadership Council (ALC) and A&S '07. "It seems notices [for hate crimes] are more insulated, when there should be University notices on the same scale as for a sexual assault."
This protest specifically stemmed from an incident that involved two groups of students in Roncalli Hall Thursday around 9:30 p.m. One of the students involved, a black, female sophomore, claims that she and four other friends were in the hall when a female white student, who appeared to be intoxicated, yelled several racially-charged slurs at the students. An official Boston College Police Department report was unavailable and attempts to contact both BCPD and the Office of the Dean for Student Development were not returned due to publication deadlines.
The lack of a specific policy within BCPD and Residential Life for dealing with hate crimes, and the lack of a means to keep track of hate crimes within the University are two of the protests' primary concerns, according to Seye Akinbulumo, ALC vice president and A&S '07.
"Regardless of whose story one wants to believe, there are some things that are just very clear," said Bewaji, who stressed that the protest is focused on the creation of hate crime protocol rather than on this specific incident. "Regardless of whatever happened [Thursday], someone dropped the ball and it seems to be BCPD, then ResLife, and then the BC administration as a whole."
The rally is scheduled for 11:45 a.m. in the Quad. The organizers plan to seek approval for the rally through ODSD today.
After the students confronted each other, the BCPD was called to the scene and the three officers who responded talked to the students. But according to one of the black students involved, the officers largely ignored their concern that a hate crime had occured.
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