On Sept. 2, racial slurs including the N-word were discovered on walls and whiteboards in the Kent-Dabney Dorm Association. However, the University didn’t offer a widespread response to the incident until after Cavalier Daily coverage prompted student reactions — limiting itself to commenting in The Cavalier Daily’s article and emailing resident advisors. This raises questions about when and how the University should issue public responses to episodes that may not reach the entire student body.
There is something to be said for delaying a public response; for one, further publicizing an incident beyond those affected could satisfy the perpetrators by drawing greater attention to their message. The hateful act did not extend beyond a dorm association — before it became public, the reach of this incident was limited to those in the dorm.
However, the extreme nature of the offense — which could well be considered a hate crime — may be enough to warrant a greater response. This isn’t a debate about safe spaces or cultural appropriation or free speech: this is blatant harassment. The N-word is one of the most, if perhaps not the most, offensive words when used derogatorily. For first-year students, who have only just begun to acclimate to the University, to come home to racist and intimidating messages on their doors and walls is appalling.
It’s important for the University to exercise caution when commenting on an issue, especially when there is a lot of required fact gathering and verification. Yet when the message is as egregious as the one scrawled across Kent-Dabney, something so clearly condemnable, it’s hard to tell what the best plan of action for our administrators is.
The upside to this situation is that members of the dorm association responded swiftly and appropriately. By immediately denouncing the incident to residents and staff members, and inviting the Black Student Alliance to hold programming, resident advisors sent a strong message to the perpetrator(s) and one of support for those affected. The question remains whether that message would be stronger if issued to the whole University community.
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