Online tools help fight hate crimes

During the fall semester, UD President David P. Roselle wrote an open letter to the campus community in which he said, “Those who engage in acts of hatred and bias-motivated threats and behavior will be confronted, prosecuted and expelled from our community.”

Now, a University web site, [www.udel.edu/stophate/], has been created that is dedicated to supporting victims of hate crimes and acting as a resource to enable individuals to identify, report and stop such crimes. The complete text of Roselle’s letter can be found at the site.

Cynthia Cummings, associate vice president for campus life, says the idea for the web site came from students who, after several incidents occurred on campus in the fall, wanted to be able to deal with hate and hate crimes in a more tangible way. She says many students were not clear about the nature of hate crimes and wanted more facts, while others told her they didn’t know where to go to report the things they saw.

“We decided to develop the web site so that students would have access to information about hate-related incidents and antihate-related events on campus,” Cummings says.

“We hope that there will be more open discussions of hate crimes, hate speech and other forms of intimidation based on race, ethnicity, religion and sexual orientation. We hope that students will feel empowered to take a stand and file reports when they witness such acts, and we hope that we will be able to identify the perpetrators of such acts and take
appropriate action against them.”

Since the end of fall semester, the number of hate-related incidents has declined, Cummings says.

“However, the recent outing of [a student involved in a white supremacist hate group] has increased students’ concerns about their well-being,” she adds. “The presence on our campus of someone who promulgates such hateful beliefs is shocking and appalling. It is important, however, for our community to understand that, while we can and will address hateful actions, we can do nothing to abridge an individual’s right of free expression, even if such expression is rooted in hatred.”

On the right side of the web site is a list of links for those who want to report a hate crime, complete with the names of those to contact. There also are links to such campus resources as the Students Advocating for Freedom and Equality (SAFE) Team and Allies programs for students and employees.

SAFE is a group of students and staff who are organized to respond to acts of hate and intolerance that occur on the campus. The Allies programs are specifically for victims of hate crimes based on sexual orientation. There also is a link on the web site to UD’s annual campus security report.

Additional links take users to off-campus resources that define hate crime, suggest ways to fight hate, promote tolerance and offer guidelines for collecting data on hate crimes.

Listed on the left are links to news articles about what is happening on campus to deal with hate and hate crimes.

The web site, which also features quotes on the topic by famous individuals from Cicero to Will Smith, is a rich resource and part of an ongoing campaign to raise awareness about this issue across campus. On April 21, the University celebrated Unity Day to allow members of the UD community to stand united in opposition to the espousal of hatred and to demonstrate commitment to taking action against the perpetrators of hate crimes. 

— Barbara Garrison