_*Editor’s note: Several student organizations, including the Legion of Black Collegians, the Missouri Students Association and Four Front, met Saturday evening in response to the discovery of an offensive graffiti message found on campus earlier that morning. The attached PDF, available for download, is a summary of that meeting written by MSA President Eric Woods._
Chancellor Brady Deaton temporarily suspended freshman Ben Elliott on Monday, two days after the MU Police Department arrested the student on suspicion of writing a racially-charged graffiti message outside Hatch Hall.
Elliott’s arrest on Saturday evening came about 12 hours after a Hatch Hall employee notified the police of the graffiti painted on a statue outside of the residence hall.
Elliott was arrested on suspicion of second-degree property damage, which is typically a class B misdemeanor. However, given the incident’s classification as a hate crime, the charge became a class D felony because of the Missouri Hate Crimes Statute.
“We won’t divulge how the arrest was made,” MUPD Capt. Brian Weimer said. “That’s something that has to come out later.”
After being released from Boone County Jail on $4,500 bond, Elliott has returned to his home in Rolla.
Columbia Police Department spokeswoman Jill Wieneke said police are investigating another incident of graffiti discovered Saturday evening near campus.
“There was an anti-Jewish remark spray-painted on a car on Ross Street,” Wieneke said. “It was the same color paint, the same time frame as the other incident, and it was extremely close to campus.”
The resident reported the graffiti just before 9 a.m. Saturday. Wieneke said his neighbor’s car, which was parked right next to his, was also spray-painted, but it was not race-related.
The words “Nigger Month” were spray-painted on a statue outside of Hatch Hall on Saturday morning and were washed off by Residential Life employees by about 12:30 p.m. Saturday.
Elliott’s temporary suspension means he must go through the student conduct judicial process. After this process is completed, the suspension will be lifted, to be replaced by a final sanction.
Missouri Students Association President Eric Woods met with representatives from the Legion of Black Collegians, Four Front and Residential Life, among others, shortly following Saturday’s incident to discuss future steps MU should take.
“The group’s discussion was very positive,” Woods stated in a report. “It was decided by the collective that a reactionary response to the incident was undesirable. Many felt that the angry nature of the outcry which occurred in response to last year’s ‘Cotton Ball Incident’ was counter-productive in terms of addressing the real issues at hand.”
Although acknowledging the anger and disappointment associated with this crime, the group stressed the importance of responding to the incident with unity. It also said a greater appreciation of diversity and community should be engrained into MU’s culture.
The meeting resulted in a number of recommendations on how MU can properly respond to the incident. Ideas ranged from creating a “One Mizzou” banner, which would be ideally hung in the Student Center and signed by a number of students, to online diversity training for all incoming freshmen.
“By showing a commitment to the values of diversity and community, the university can help reduce the power of those who carry out acts of intolerance,” the report stated. “By promoting these values early in the academic careers of students, and keeping them present and visible throughout, all members of the Mizzou community should be more willing to embrace diversity among their peers.”
The report ended with the conclusion that MU should enact strict, zero-tolerance policies for hateful and offensive acts, such as this.
“We need their attention so they can understand, ‘Yeah, the first time it might have just been an incident,’ but the second time in two years? We just can’t stand for it,” LBC President Lisa White said.
