Never again

Last week, we were lied to. You may have noticed an administrator's quote in the Nov. 11 article in The Chronicle, "East Campus dorms vandalized," describing vandalism involving a swastika on East Campus as an "isolated incident." But was this really the lone instance of such intimidation? This "isolated incident" was, according to a member of East Campus Council, actually the second occurrence of such intimidation at Duke. You weren't notified when the first swastika showed up. Most students weren't informed about the second swastika. And no one was told there could be two separate occurrences.

According to Giles House Council Vice President and East Campus Council Treasurer Ben Goldenberg, there were two distinct cases "in which a swastika as well as words praising Hitler were written on two Jewish students' doors. These incidents were separated by approximately a month." The first student didn't want any investigation. The second victim did make the vandalism public, but did not want a police report filed. Goldenberg added that the two incidents were described to him by the administration as "threshold events," meaning that after a dorm meeting about the vandalism, any further vandalism would go fully pursued and punished. But, to date, there has been no thorough investigation.

In an e-mail sent to East Campus residents after the second incident, ECC promised action, "A police report will be filed at the end of this week specifically citing the incidents of stolen property and vandalism in the Giles dormitory." ECC President Betsy Klein, however, never did see the police report. Joe Gonzalez, associate dean for residential life, also was unsure whether a police report was filed. After our phone interview, Gonzalez promptly sent me an e-mail saying, "a police report was not filed." Duke University Police Department verified Gonzalez's statement.

Then what did the administration do in this case? In an e-mail interview, Deb LoBiondo, assistant dean for residence life on West Campus, laid out the responsibilities of the residence life support staff. "When we are made aware of instances of vandalism of this nature, it is our goal to determine those responsible-however, more importantly, [we] try our best to tend to the needs of those who may have been victimized." Gonzalez, however, made it clear that his office only has a limited ability to investigate such issues, especially when compared with the police. Still, DUPD was not involved.

According to Sue Wasiolek, dean of students, the most recent student victim did not want a police report to be filed. But when does the need to secure the student body outweigh the wishes of an individual victim? When someone is mugged near campus, we are notified by the administration about the incident-but not the specifics-in order for us to better protect ourselves. But this time, the administration sent us no e-mail. Gonzalez said that the goal is to "make sure all interests are represented" while trying to give the individual victim control over the situation. Apparently in this case, the desires of the victim outweighed the potential risks to the student body.

Throughout my interviews with administrators, I was never informed that there may have been two separate incidents. Rebecca Simons, director of Jewish life, also spoke of only one incident. I was often referred to Lisa Beth Bergene, assistant dean of residence life, but she declined an interview request. This entire situation amounts to either massive miscommunication throughout the system or a deliberate attempt to cover up the fact that there were two separate incidents.

Cookie Newsom, the director of diversity education and assessment at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, said that most universities do not keep records of discriminatory intimidation. If universities kept such records, she said, multiple incidents could be construed to show that a university fostered a hateful environment. Newsom stressed that the "way to go is education" to combat ignorance. Although UNC probably wouldn't seek police involvement in cases of graffiti, Newsom said, there is a standard university protocol in place to deal with such situations at UNC. According to Gonzalez, however, there is no uniform protocol for dealing with discriminatory intimidation at Duke.

Rocky Suhayda, chairman of the American Nazi Party, condemned the acts of vandalism in an e-mail to me: "I assume that the student victimized was Jewish-no sincere national socialist would take their sacred symbol and utilize it in such a fashion." Suhayda hopes to bring about a resurgence in his party by catering "to the besieged American white worker... Progress is slow, but steady, especially in these increasingly worsening economic times." Perhaps, in light of the American Nazi Party's new campaign, we shouldn't assume that white nationalists are not represented on campus.