Whitney Cyr
Managing Executive Editor
After racist graffiti was found in the men’s bathroom of the Media Arts Center, President Giles-Gee is emphasizing this behavior has no place at Keene State.
The graffiti in question has since been removed, but its impact is still rippling through the college. “The first thing I wanted to say is that is not what we value at KSC,” Giles-Gee said. “That type of drawing or language is not acceptable.” Giles-Gee said there would be a college-wide response as a result of this, and she has already contacted others to organize a full investigation. In addition to the investigation, Giles-Gee has commissioned a committee to develop strategies in order to address this particular issue on the campus, led by the chief officer for Diversity and Multiculturalism, Dr. Dottie Morris.
Campus Safety recently came out with their newest campus crime report, indicating that hate crimes, such as vandalism, destruction of property and other damage has gone down from seven incidents in 2009 to three in 2010, with one of them reportedly being race-related, while the other being religiously based.
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Amanda Warman, the director of Campus Safety, said this incident is one of three that have happened in the past few weeks. Other incidents include anti-Semitic graffiti in residence halls, as well as racist graffiti found on a whiteboard in a classroom in Huntress Hall.
“Graffiti in general is destructive and doesn’t show the best face of the college. It is motivated by bias and it doesn’t really serve our values as an institution,” Warman said. As for why students might be perpetrating these acts, Warman said, people can do it for several reasons.
“It stems out of frustration, hatred, and their inability to say these things in a direct way,” Warman said. She also spoke of the difficulty in tracking down the person who wrote the graffiti because people write graffiti quickly and when there isn’t a large amount of people around. Warman said she encourages people who know of those who are about to or have written graffiti to let others know there are more productive ways of expressing opinions and views rather than doing it anonymously and destroying property.
While this may not be a widespread problem on the campus, both Giles-Gee and Morris acknowledged this is not the attitude of the general population of students, and the MAC racist graffiti is an isolated incident.
Giles-Gee said this behavior is not reflective on Keene State College students as a whole, but on the individual who perpetrated this act.
“I believe it is the college’s responsibility to make sure whoever did this understand that such behavior has no place here,” Giles-Gee said.
Agreeing with Giles-Gee, Morris said the graffiti is not an insight into the views of KSC students. Morris said she would like to conduct facilitated conversation about difficult subjects in order for students to gain perspective and critical thinking about the community and people around us, so students can learn the impression their actions leave on others.
“The person who did this may think it’s a joke and are not conscience of its impact,” Morris said.
In addition to a full investigation, Giles-Gee also said a campus-wide climate study would be taking place, led by the director of institutional research.
“That will provide us with some of the attitudes that exist on campus and we will determine how best to respond,” Giles-Gee said.
Both Giles-Gee and Morris said the diversity on campus did not play a role in the MAC bathroom graffiti.
“I have been an administrator and faculty on campuses much more diverse than this one, elements of this type of behavior turn up anywhere,” Giles-Gee added.
Morris said she didn’t believe KSC was a racist campus, but some behavior such as this is a result of micro-aggression, which happens on a daily basis. Morris discusses that micro-aggression, such as the graffiti found in the MAC are subtle insults, and can be both verbal and nonverbal offenses directed at a certain group. However, she emphasized the graffiti lends the campus an opportunity for discussion and mentoring.
“How do we create a climate where people not expressing their views can speak up and be the loudest voice?” Morris said. Though the teachings at KSC, students can implement practices of justice and fairness as a model to others in order to shift the environment we live in, Morris said.
Racist graffiti is not just restrained to the KSC campus. The Concord Monitor recently printed a story about racist graffiti written on the houses of refugees in Concord, N.H., referring to the refugees as “sub-humans,” and being responsible for crime in the area. Morris said behaviors and actions such as this and on the KSC campus require education.
“As the economy declines, groups of people find people to blame,” Morris said, but “education is essential” in eradicating these types of views and behaviors. Giles-Gee also emphasized the need for education.
“My expectation is that additional information with what is learned in the curriculum with additional activities, we may need to every year inform students of situations that may make others feel uncomfortable,” Giles-Gee said.
Several students shared the views of both Giles-Gee and Morris, believing that the individual who is responsible for the graffiti is not symbolic of the attitudes on the campus.
Dante Hill, a junior, said he hadn’t experienced any racial comments or slurs on the campus, and he feels comfortable at KSC. “I’ve never experienced any type of discrimination here,” he said. He said the MAC graffiti is not something anyone has particular control over.
“I think someone should step up and say you shouldn’t do this,” senior Jake Messersmith said. Messersmith also believes this incident was isolated and not reflective of the views of KSC students. “Any racist jokes or slurs are immature. It brings our whole image down as a student body,” he said.
Giles-Gee had some strong, final advice to the KSC community about this issue. “I urge students, faculty, and staff to stand up for what we believe and to support those individuals who would feel defamed by such actions.”
Whitney Cyr can be contacted at wcyr@keene-equinox.com.