Residence hall graffiti dominates harassment complaints

Someone, perhaps maliciously, perhaps not knowing the impact it would have, scrawled the words "Nazi's rule" on a residence hall wall last year.\nThe graffiti was reported to the Racial Incidents Team, which, along with the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Anti-Harassment Team, assists students who have been victims of discrimination based on race, nationality, religion, sexual orientation or gender.\n"It may be intended as a joke, but nevertheless it's inappropriate," said Bill Shipton, co-chair of both teams. "If someone writes 'fag' on a board it might be done by a good friend. We just want them to know that it's still inappropriate. It's an offensive term, and other people are going to see it."\nResidence hall graffiti has been the most commonly reported problem for the teams since the Racial Incidents Team's inception in 1988 and the creation of the GLBT team in 1990. \nNeither group punishes offenders through the campus judicial system. Instead, their job is to bring peace of mind to the victims.\n"We work with the victim to find out what they would like to happen that would bring them closure," Shipton said. "We work on an informal level to support victims and bring about a resolution."\nJunior Ahmad Radi, a resident assistant at the Ashton Center, said if a Residential Advisor spots an offensive term, they are trained to take a picture of it and check if the target of the slur feels threatened. Next, the RA relays the event to the residence hall judicial system, which may or may not pass it on to one of the teams.\nMost graffiti is directed towards religious minorities, Radi said. Shipton also noted a rise in religious-based harassment and discrimination in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.\nWhile Shipton admits dry board graffiti is "fairly typical" of the reports received, that doesn't mean that is all with which the teams must deal. Over the years, both teams have received reports of severe harassment, beatings and even murder, in one case.\n"The worst thing that was ever reported was the murder of Won-Joon Yoon," Shipton said. "He was a Korean grad student murdered several years ago by a white supremacist."\nHowever, just because an incident isn't violent, doesn't mean it won't leave scars.\n"Emotional harm can be just as debilitating as physical harm for many people," Shipton said.\n-- Contact senior writer Chris Freiberg at wfreiber@indiana.edu.