Hate Crimes

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Police look into possible hate crimes
In a little more than a week, there have been two attacks on transgendered students.
Andy Jones
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The Daily Evergreen
Published: 10/23/2008
Three cases of alleged hate crimes occurred on, or around, the WSU campus during the past eight days.
On Monday, Jackson Hogan, a transgendered person, was heading to a meeting in the CUE parking lot when another man came out of the third-floor elevator. Hogan, a junior French and Spanish major, said he didn’t recognize the man, but the man recognized him from an event sponsored by the GLBTQ community. The man allegedly made a comment, which Hogan did not want to disclose, and proceeded to knock Hogan to the ground and kick him.
“He had bloody lips and swelling in the cheeks,” WSU Police Lt. Steve Hansen said. Hogan said the suspect, who fled the scene, was wearing a sweatshirt and light-colored jeans. He is blond and between 6- foot and 6-foot-2. Hansen said there are a few leads on the case.
“It’s perfectly clear that his actions were transphobic,” Hogan said.
On Saturday, another WSU student was allegedly beaten up outside Munchy’z in the early morning.
The student said he was attacked by three men wearing masks resembling those from the movie “Scream,” hooded WSU jackets and blue jeans, Pullman Police Cmdr. Chris Tennant said. The alleged victim was transported to Pullman Regional Hospital, where he was diagnosed with a collapsed lung, though the incident was not life-threatening.
“According to the officers, he was in obvious pain,” Tennant said. The case was reported at 2:36 a.m. Tennant said there are no leads in the case.
On Oct. 15, Kristopher Shultz, a transgendered person, was walking past the Scott-Coman Soccer Fields between midnight and 1 a.m., when someone allegedly shouted hate speech. Shultz, a junior women’s studies major, said when he turned around, he was punched in the face and knocked unconscious. “All I saw was a flash of gray,” Shultz said, referring to a piece of possibly a sweatshirt or shirt.
The next thing Shultz remembered, he said, was being at home at 4:30 a.m., though he doesn’t remember walking home. He has a bruise on his right side but doesn’t remember being kicked.
Shultz said he was targeted because of his sexual orientation. The previous day, Shultz was wearing a skirt, though he said he’d heard no comments about his appearance. As a transfer student, Schultz has been at WSU less than two months. He said he’d experienced discrimination at his previous school as well.
“The whole transphobic thing ... I don’t understand,” Shultz said.
GLBTA President Nikki Hahn said there was also a case of hate speech outside a residence hall Oct. 12.
Hahn said the university has been slow to respond to the alleged incidents.
“There’s a general feeling of a lack of support from the university administration and the university system in general,” she said. “On a personal level, I’m scared. There’s been nothing coming out of the university and that’s not acceptable.” She said the university should have quickly come out with a comment and awareness campaign to educate people on issues regarding the GLBTQ community.
“This is a reality on the WSU campus,” she said. “I think there’s a lot of people who don’t think there’s homophobia, heterosexism and even racism happening on the WSU campus, but we’ve had three incidents in the last week.” Campus Climate Response, a committee of about 10 WSU administrators that meets regularly, met Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss the incident, Dean of Students Lucila Loera said.
At the Tuesday meeting, the administrators and the WSU and Pullman Police shared information on the incidents, ASWSU President Brandon Scheller said. He attended the meeting. A few members of the committee also went to the GLBTA meeting that evening. President Elson S. Floyd met with Hahn, Scheller and multiple administrators Wednesday.
Scheller said Floyd and the administration responded promptly to the events.
“The tough part is that the third incident didn’t happen until Monday evening,” he said. Loera said the administration works hard to do preventive action.
“We are disturbed and saddened by the recent events,” she said. “Of course we want all our students to feel safe, secure and respected.” The CUB is planning to work with the GLBTA on creating an awareness campaign, possibly with a guest speaker, Scheller said.
He said the incidents come as a shock.
“I would never have thought this would happen on our campus and I think it shocks the overwhelming majority of campus,” Scheller said. “But the reality is it happened and we need to be aware that it still exists.”
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