Homosexuals targeted by dorm graffiti

Residents of Collins Center awoke to find their building spray-painted with speckled blue and red hues of hate Sunday. The messages were targeted at homosexuals. \nLt. Jerry Minger of the IU Police Department said the graffiti occurred sometime between 11 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. Sunday.\n"This incident not only destroys the campus' aesthetics, but it strikes at people's souls," said Doug Bauder, coordinator of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Support Services.\nCollins Resident Manager Sara Ivey-Lucas said Residential Programs and Services arranged for the Physical Plant staff to paint over the sexually oriented slurs on the south side of the Brown wing.\n"It's vandalism, it's illegal and it targets a specific group. Just to note -- this could be escalated to status of a hate crime," Minger said.\nHe said the graffiti included, "Die fag. Die homo. Never suck a dick."\nThe incident was the first branding of vandalism along the exterior of Collins during this school year, but the center has had an up and down history of graffiti over the years.\n"This is the first large scale incident we've had this year," Ivey-Lucas said. "In the recent Community Council meeting, the issue was brought up and was taken very seriously; many people -- staff and students -- were upset by it."\nMinger said this is also the first hate-crime incident this school year around Collins. But last February swastikas were found on the outside of Collins while racially and sexually biased graffiti was found on the residence hall's message boards. The first "Unity Week," which started Feb. 9, 2000, was created as a response. \nAssistant Dean of Students Pam Freeman and members of the IU Racial Incidents Team were present at a meeting with the Collins staff that week, heading a discussion on the string of racial disquietude in the center.\nFreeman said this year's vandalism hardly weighed against her concerns last year. Freeman noted that the recent vandalism appears isolated.\n"I don't know if you can even compare the situations," Freeman said. "Last year there were tangible difficulties outside and inside of Collins. There were concerns that residents were involved. Also, last year the pattern that was being addressed was not the same kind of case as this one. It is not a bearing on if staff is doing their job."\nBut Freeman did emphasize the gravity of the current vandalism for everyone involved. \n"We know homophobia still exists on an immeasurable scale," Freeman said. "I think this is alarming and that it is clearly a hate message. It is destructive to our sense of security and consequently the entire community is affected adversely."\nBauder speculated on the importance of the source of the crime -- both who and why.\n"Maybe they were drunk and thought it was funny. Maybe they are homosexual themselves and hiding in the closet," Bauder said. "I would love to know who was behind this and what propels someone to do such a thing."\nBoth Bauder and Freeman are members of the Anti-Harassment Team that tracks hate crime statistics. According to a summary of the incidents reported to the team, the number of harassment cases nearly doubled between 1995 and 2000, from 67 to 128. The majority of determined offenders remain unknown, but those who were sighted were males. But legal action has not been taken in the last five years. The nature of most incidents reported were "graffiti/defacing property." \nBut Bauder said the trends are not a clear indication of whether the campus has progressed in its understanding of sexual differences.\n"I don't have a definitive answer," Bauder said. "But I think it's more of a roller-coaster of progress. We are clearly not in midst of climbing a mountain and we are too far from the apex of understanding to even know that it exists. The good news is we have a campus that will stand up and take these issues seriously. To IU's credit, those entities are in place. Not all campuses respond on that kind of level"