Publications and Policies > Right to Know > Campus Crime and Safety 2000-2002

The Campus Security Act of 1990 as amended in October 1998 requires that all of the crimes included in the 2000 statistics that manifest evidence of prejudice based on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, ethnicity, or disability be reported as hate crimes in the annual campus security report.

Hateful acts occur in every community. The strongest action to combat the meanspiritedness of those few who perpetuate this behavior is a community that commits itself by loudly and publicly denouncing such acts. Each member of the community must do his/her part to bring an end to these indignities.

Action steps

• Speak out when jokes or comments are made that are hateful or demean others because of their race, religion, gender, or sexual preference.
• Ask yourself if you use derogatory, degrading, or offensive terms in describing others and if you avoid people who are different from yourself.
• If you are the victim of a harassing or nuisance phone call, save the e-mail message or voice mail message. Report the incident to police immediately.
• Educate yourself on the psychology of hate. Statistics indicate that most hate callers are white males under the age of 22 with low self-esteem. The motivation is typically a feeling of disenfranchisement. Such a caller is angry because he perceives he is not getting what is due him.
• Wear or display the anti-hate logo.

Remember that hate crimes can and do occur everywhere, but the difference is how communities respond. And in this community, silence about such situations is not acceptable.