|
|
|
crime news of Saratoga Springs |
|
|
Skidmore probes hate-crime graffiti
SARATOGA SPRINGS Skidmore College security officials are investigating a hate crime involving anti-gay writing and other vulgarities at the school's Center for Sex and Gender Relations, according to a school spokeswoman and a student leader.
Someone used a black pen to write "for dykes only" on the office's door, said Courtney Franko, head peer-advocate for the center.
They also defaced a domestic violence bulletin board outside the office with the words "bitches deserve it" and other obscenities, Franko said.
"It was just kind of upsetting that someone would vandalize a place that is there to help students," said Franko, 21, a senior from New Jersey. Most of the 17 student peer advocates who work at the center "are not lesbians," she said.
The vandalism is the latest in a series of similar incidents at the 2,400-student private liberal arts college in Saratoga Springs, according to students. The Skidmore News reported earlier this month that a student found a swastika on the student's dorm room door Nov. 2. "I cried for two days after I saw it," the anonymous student told the paper.
The vandalism is the latest in a series of similar incidents at the 2,400-student private liberal arts college in Saratoga Springs, according to students. The Skidmore News reported earlier this month that a student found a swastika on the student's dorm room door Nov. 2. "I cried for two days after I saw it," the anonymous student told the paper.
In 2007, there were two incidents on campus that fit the state definition of a hate crime. Both involved written vulgarities on white message boards of student residence hall rooms, said spokeswoman Andrea Wise.
Skidmore reported no hate crimes the past three years in the annual crime disclosures that colleges are required to file with the federal government, which uses a different definition.
Wise said someone apparently broke into the Center for Sex and Gender Relations over the weekend, a crime reported Monday to the Campus Safety office.
"A small amount of money was stolen and there was some graffiti on the walls," Wise said. She described the writing as "an assortment of vulgarities."
She said the probe "is slowed due to students leaving for the holiday break" and Campus Safety will share the information with police once officials had "all the details."
Roughly $50 was stolen, said Franko, who thinks the theft and writing were unrelated. The episode was first reported on Skidmore Unofficial, a student blog.
The Center for Sex and Gender Relations describes itself as "a confidential space where all students can visit to gather information about safer sex practices, purchase condoms, look at various resources regarding sexuality and gender, or hold discussions about sexual relationship issues."
In the past, some faculty members have viewed language on some of their posters as inappropriate, Franko said.
Read more Saratoga Springs news - Contribute News |
|
|
