Collins graffiti harms University

Sunday, someone spray-painted anti-homosexual remarks on the south side of Collins Center. Once again, the actions of a few disrupt the open-mindedness of the community and threaten certain individuals who have done nothing to deserve the hateful messages directed toward them.\nHate speech should not happen at IU. Yes, we as a community should be free to express our views and opinions, but it is unacceptable for those opinions to threaten others. \nThe choice to spray-paint any message on the side of a building is illegal, even though the speech itself is not. Free speech is a valued right in the United States. But so is the protection of private property and the right to feel safe in your own community.\nThe actions taken by the vandal or vandals should not be tolerated in this community. Everyone who attends IU has earned the right to do so without being harassed because of race, color, creed or sexuality. To deny someone safety and comfort in their own community is wrong. \nIU needs to consider having an open forum for students to discuss sexuality, where all opinions can be expressed and tolerated. We as a community of educated people should relish the opportunity to discuss our opinions, whatever they might be, with our peers. Acceptance will be the end result of education and listening to each other's views. Incidents of hate should not occur on this campus at all, let alone the 128 harassment incidents reported to the Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Anti-Harassment team last year alone.\nThe vandalism also distracts from the beauty of our campus. At a time when students are coming to visit IU, a clear message of hate painted on the side of a building might lead some students to choose another university. Why should those students, who could add so much to our community, feel as if they shouldn't come here because of the actions of hateful individuals?\nAccording to its Web site, MTV will be listing the names of people who have committed hate crimes in the past year this week starting at 10 p.m. To the person or persons who vandalized the side wall of Collins: How would you feel if your name was on MTV's hate crimes offenders list for all of your friends and fellow students to see?