In response to an unusually high number of hate crimes reported over the past several months at Georgetown University, a group of students has formed the Georgetown Unity Coalition.
The hate crimes have blacks, homosexuals, Jews and other minority groups.
The Coalition hopes to have a strong impact on administrative policies. "None of us were very happy with the response of the university" to the hate crimes, GU Pride President Simon Stevens said. GU Pride is Georgetown's gay support group.
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According to Stevens, both students and administrators agree that Georgetown's student code of conduct is "pretty vague." They are working together to "include the concept of hate crimes more explicitly," Stevens said.
The Coalition set a deadline -- before the end of the semester -- for when they would like to see noticeable changes in university policies.
The series of crimes began in early December, when students discovered a large outdoor menorah had been severely vandalized.
The menorah was repaired and students began a routine of nightly vigils around it for security.
But on the night of Dec. 11, a student approached the crowd of people surrounding the menorah and pushed the religious symbol to the ground.
He was caught by the crowd and held until security arrived.
Another bias-related crime occurred Jan. 28 when a homosexual student found anti-gay graffiti on the door to his room.
Soon afterward, a black resident advisor found racist remarks scrawled on the floor and walls of her residence hall, according to Noah Gottschalk, Vice-President of the Jewish Student Association.
Gottschalk said hate crimes have occurred at Georgetown in the past, but they only recently began getting public attention.
"At first I got the feeling that these were copy-cat crimes, but now I see it's not that way at all," he said. "The things that were kind of being ignored before are being focused on now."
Stevens said he has similar feelings.
"A lot of people felt that there's been a climate of intolerance for a long time on campus that has just been background noise," he said.
He also said several instances of anti-gay "face-to-face" verbal abuse have occurred recently.
Students said response to these crimes has been strong.
He said university officials now are receptive to the Coalition's proposals. "A lot of TV cameras showed up," he added.
The Coalition gathered a large crowd for a rally on Feb. 7 to protest the recent hate-based acts committed on campus.
In response to this rally, Georgetown security has agreed to be more willing to report crimes that appear hate-based to the Washington, D.C. police, Stevens said.
Gottschalk said there also is a positive side to the situation.
"Although the incidents are disheartening and upsetting, the result has been positive in that it's brought a lot of student groups together," he said.
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