UPDATE: There will be a meeting Tuesday night at 8:30 p.m . in 307 Harrelson Hall to discuss appropriate reactions. While the meeting is targeted toward student leaders and organization presidents, it is open to everyone to attend, according to Student Body President Chandler Thompson.
The outside of the GLBT Center office in Harrelson Hall was vandalized Monday night. Purple spray paint covered the door and display cases with slurs like “fags burn” and “DIE.”
Sergeant Jeff Sutton of Campus Police said the vandalism occurred in a span of about 25 minutes, some time between 8:30 and 9 p.m .
“We do not have any suspects at this time. We’re going to try to look at some camera footage going into Harrelson Hall during that time frame,” Sutton said.
Adam Ward, a graduate student in comparative biomedical sciences, is a graduate adviser for the GLBT Center.
“No one was able to see who sprayed-painted this, but believe me, there will be a University response. We will continue working with University Police, and I thank all of our community members and allies for standing up for equality and what’s right,” Ward said in a Facebook post.
Sutton said the vandalism would not be considered a hate crime, but rather a hate incident.
“A hate crime has to be against a person… there’s generally some violence involved in the situation. Nobody was named in the writing, and because it wasn’t against a person, it’s a hate incident,” Sutton said.
Stay with Technician for more updates as the day progresses.