Harassment Hits Oxy Hard

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Author: Laura Bertocci

First-year Tricia McGown and an unidentified professor were the victims of two unconnected acts of intolerance this past month. McGown, who identifies as bisexual, was targeted during the first month of school when the offensive message, “Faggots burn in hell,” was written on her door twice, the perpetrator of which has not been found. According to Campus Safety reports, the other crime occurred on Sept. 18, when a professor who lives near campus found “that someone ripped his Afro-American flag which was on his front porch.” Administrators had no comment concerning this second crime.

At the beginning of the school year before either incident had occurred, administrators began examining harassment policies strengthen their position on the issue.

“This type of stuff is not going be tolerated, both harassment of LGBTQ [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer] students and any student at all,” said Dean of Students Barbara Avery. “No one should have to be in a place where they feel they cannot freely express who they are.”

In light of the recent gay student suicides across the country, it is especially important to the administration that these incidents are sternly addressed. “Acts of this kind, intolerable under any circumstances, are particularly painful when their potential consequences have been made so shockingly clear to all of us,” said Avery in a campus-wide e-mail sent on Oct. 7, referring to the recent suicide of Rutgers first-year Tyler Clementi.

Dean Avery sent another message, which was included in the Oxy Digest on Sept. 28, encouraging students to uphold Occidental’s goal of diversity, and referenced the crimes as “some recent incidents,” leaving students unsure about the gravity of the crimes.

Many students were unhappy with the administration’s response to the events. “It was just kind of vague,” Rachel Adeleye (sophomore) said.

In the absence of specific details pertaining to the crimes, students’ curiosity increased. “It just made people want to know what happened even more,” Chris Neff (sophomore) said.

Dean Avery said that the Digest message was drafted on the Monday following the incident involving the professor, but a Board of Trustees meeting in New York delayed the release of the message for a week. “[The initial message] was ready several days, if not a week before it went out. But we were going out of town and we didn’t want to give the wrong idea. […] It’s no excuse, but at the beginning of the semester, all of us are just crazy swamped,” said Avery.

Dean Avery attempted to quell the spreading rumors in the e-mail by reiterating the college’s goal of creating a safe environment. “The thoughtless actions of a few cannot be allowed to undermine our work of creating a more just, inclusive, welcoming, and equitable campus community,” she said.

In addition to the incidents involving McGown, there were separate slurs written on students’ doors in Stewie.

Community members noted that these halls house mostly freshmen. “Once you’ve been at Oxy for a year, I guarantee you you’ll have had a race talk, a sexual identity talk, a gender talk, discrimination, the basics,” said President of Vote For Equality Becca Cooper (sophomore), addressing the concern that first-years have not yet taken the school’s policies to heart.

No matter the student’s age or year, administrators have made pursuing these perpetrators a top priority.

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