Claremont
colleges reel from hate crime
CLAREMONT, (AP) -- Students staged mass
rallies and faculty canceled classes Wednesday
as the Claremont colleges erupted in anger
after a professor's car was spray-painted
with racial slurs, the latest in a rash
of hate incidents in this tranquil college
community.
The
group of seven campuses sprouted with sit-ins,
teach-ins and forums as hundreds of students,
faculty and trustees discussed their bitterness
and how best to respond.
''I'm
disappointed, disgusted, angry, frustrated
and saddened,'' said Marc Bathgate, 21,
president-elect of the Claremont McKenna
student government. ''There was a sense
that this community was beyond that. That
sense is now gone.''
The
colleges were galvanized after a Claremont
McKenna professor's car was vandalized and
covered in racist and sexist epithets on
Tuesday night.
The
incident occurred while the professor, who
was not identified, was speaking at a forum
about the need for tolerance and racial
harmony at the colleges. When she returned
to the parking lot, she found her tires
slashed, windows broken and $1,700 worth
of property stolen, police said.
Police
and federal agents are investigating the
incident as a hate crime, and Claremont
McKenna officials have offered a $10,000
reward for information regarding the crime.
Lt.
Stan Van Horn said police had increased
the number of officers patrolling the campuses,
known for their rigorous academics and home
to several respected research institutes.
''I've
been here for 26 years and this is the most
severe hate crime I've seen,'' Van Horn
said.
He
said the professor's car had been held as
evidence and that forensics investigators
from the FBI were examining it.
The
vandalism came just weeks after similar
race-focused incidents.
In
February, a racial slur against blacks was
written on a calendar picturing George Washington
Carver at Claremont McKenna. Also that month,
a group of students held a ''fraternity
scavenger hunt'' in which initiates were
asked to take photographs of 10 ''Asians,''
said Pomona College spokesman Mark Wood.
The group was disbanded.
And
at Harvey Mudd College, a group of four
students set fire to an oversized cross
used in an art project in front of a campus
dormitory in January. They were put on probation
by the college and required to perform 100
hours of community service.
Pomona
College President David Oxtoby said the
racial vandalism was the result of ignorance
and bias. ''We want to send out a very positive
message that we're against this racism and
hate,'' he said.
In
the afternoon, hundreds of students gathered
in open areas at Claremont McKenna, carrying
signs reading ''We will not stand for hate''
and writing ''I am hurt, you?'' in chalk
on the sidewalk.
''This
is such a tight-knit group,'' said Beau
Miller, a 21-year-old senior at Claremont
McKenna. ''An attack on one group is an
attack on our community.''
The
consortium of seven independent institutions
includes undergraduate colleges Claremont
McKenna, Harvey Mudd, Pitzer, Pomona and
Scripps, as well as the Claremont Graduate
University and the Keck Graduate Institute
of Applied Life Sciences.
Collectively,
the schools enroll about 5,500 students,
nearly 30 percent of whom are minorities,
Wood said.
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