In response to the racially-offensive graffiti message left in front of Hatch Hall in February, the MU National Association for the Advancement of Colored People started an online petition to add a zero-tolerance policy on hate crimes to the student conduct policy.
According to the petition website, the main goal of the movement is to implement specific consequences for hate crimes committed on campus.
MU NAACP President Bryan Like said this policy would act as both a reactive and a preventive measure against hate crimes.
“I believe that if the consequences were severe enough, students wouldn’t get involved in such acts,” Like said. “Students will know that if they commit a hate crime, they will be expelled.”
But MU Chief Diversity Officer Roger Worthington said making this kind of policy would get complicated.
“If you introduce that into university policy, then you have to provide an adequate definition of a hate crime when you are writing the policy,” Worthington said. “Another piece would be if you say there is zero-tolerance for a hate crime, does the student have to be accused, arrested or convicted of a hate crime? You’re sort of blending criminal law with university policy.”
Donell Young, Office of Student Conduct senior coordinator, said the university already believes in zero-tolerance for events or actions similar to the cotton ball incident last February and the Hatch Hall graffiti incident last month. But Young said he often wants to assess each incident case-by-case to see its impact on the university.
“I would be an advocate for a zero-tolerance policy related to specific conduct on the part of students that rises to the equivalent of a hate crime,” Worthington said. “I think it becomes a little bit problematic if you don’t clearly define what it is you mean by hate crime and what the target of our zero-tolerance policy is really going to be.”
Young said adding a policy to the Code of Conduct is a long and arduous process.
“To change the Code of Conduct, all four campuses (of the UM System) have to agree to add a hate crime policy,” Young said. “It has to be approved by the chancellors and then the general council would have to approve it.”
Young said a faster option would be changing the rule specifically on MU’s campus, rather than waiting on all four campuses to agree.
At the most recent count, the petition had 97 signatures.
“I want thousands to sign this thing,” Like said. “We have to push it because while a hundred or so is good, it may not really get a policy done.”
The more students that sign the petition, the better, Like said.
“I think students would want something like that on campus,” Like said. “It’s one of those no brainers.”