Graffiti Shows Bias On Campus

     According to Dorothea Brauer, the director of LGBTQA Services at the University of Vermont’s Diversity Center, last month saw a spate of homophobic and anti-woman graffiti on campus. The incidents, she said, were being treated as serious bias events, some of which might rise to the level of crimes.
      On September 7, 2003, two bias incidents were reported to Police Services. In one incident, a naked woman was drawn on a wall in Austin Hall, with “I love pussy” written nearby. Harris Hall, a dorm in the Redstone campus area, also suffered a graffiti attack, with “numerous lines of graffiti drawn” on the doors of women’s rooms. The drawings included male genitalia and words such as “hot bodies” and “balls.”
      Three days later, a bias incident was reported to Police Services involving homophobic graffiti defacing a poster from Howard Dean’s presidential primary campaign. The sign was posted in the circular drive near the Royall Tyler Theatre and Bailey Howe Library and read, “The Doctor is OUT” “Homo Dean bad for America.” According to the report, the sign was taken down and the matter is under investigation by the on-campus Police Services. Two more incidents were reported a week later.
      Bias incidents reported on campus are tracked by the campus police services and reported through a link on their website (www.uvm.edu/~police). The link leads to the university’s Affirmative Action page, but the link identified as “Details of Anonymous Bias Incidents 2003” actually results in a list of incidents from February through April of 2002. “While graffiti might seem like no more than a prank,” Brauer wrote in an email to the UVM lgbtqa listserve, “it can create an atmosphere of disrespect and it can make a person feel intimidated, fearful and unwelcome. Please know that many of us at UVM take bias incidents seriously. Staff members at LGBTQA Services, the Women’s Center and the ALANA Student Center are all prepared to talk to you if you have been affected by an expression of hate or bias. Don’t hesitate to call or stop by our offices.”