Comments on The Claremont Conservative: FIRE and Free Speech on Campus: Are the Claremont ...

Ah, Civil Code. OK, not my forte. ^_^ I am glad...

2008-09-12T14:46:31.462-07:00

Ah, Civil Code. OK, not my forte. ^_^ I am glad, at least, that it was your choice to not file a report, and I am sorry that this happened to you. I wish there was some better way to handle these sorts of ideological differences without resorting to such negativity. So much for higher learning, eh?

Hey again Theresa,Interestingly, while the Califor...

2008-09-12T02:50:49.920-07:00

Hey again Theresa,

Interestingly, while the California Penal Code doesn't include political affiliation in its definition of hate crimes, the California Civil Code provides for a right "to be free from any violence, or intimidation by threat of violence, committed against their persons or property because of political affiliation." And violators of that right are "liable for each and every offense for the actual damages suffered by any person denied that right and, in addition, the following:
(1) An amount to be determined by a jury, or a court sitting without a jury, for exemplary damages.
(2) A civil penalty of twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) to be awarded to the person denied the right provided by Section 51.7 in any action brought by the person denied the right, or by the Attorney General, a district attorney, or a city attorney. An action for that penalty brought pursuant to Section 51.7 shall be commenced within three years of the alleged practice.
(3) Attorney's fees as may be determined by the court."

Twenty five thousand dollars. Sadly, even if I ever caught someone vandalizing my property, I'm not sure it'd be worth being forever known as "that asshole who sued a 5C student for $25K over $25 worth of damage."

Anyway... no one ever attempted to prevent or dissuade me from going to the police. I lived in a busy hall, across from a laundry room and next to an exit, so there was really no chance that I or the police would be able to find the person who'd defaced the sign. I figured that punishment of the perpetrator was pretty much out of the question. That's why I only contacted Dean Feldblum about it, partly out of curiosity about whether she would think it worthwhile to send out an email to students.

John,If (when? unfortunately) this happens again, ...

2008-09-10T23:00:36.989-07:00

John,
If (when? unfortunately) this happens again, please raise the issue with the appropriate facility on campus for handling crimes - Campus Safety. For purposes of general group enlightenment, here's the California Penal Code's take on this:
"For purposes of this title, and for purposes of all other
state law unless an explicit provision of law or the context clearly
requires a different meaning, the following shall apply:
(a) "Hate crime" means a criminal act committed, in whole or in
part, because of one or more of the following actual or perceived
characteristics of the victim:
(1) Disability.
(2) Gender.
(3) Nationality.
(4) Race or ethnicity.
(5) Religion.
(6) Sexual orientation.
(7) Association with a person or group with one or more of these
actual or perceived characteristics.
(b) "Hate crime" includes, but is not limited to, a violation of
Section 422.6."

Unfortunately, political affiliation does not generally fall under hate crime legislation. Be that as it may, if you go to file a crime report at CampSec (hey, even the dean agreed it was a vandalism, right?) if you express a belief that it was bias-related, they can call out Claremont Police to make an evaluation of the situation for something official. And when you're the victim of a crime, no one, NO ONE, can tell you that you can't file a crime report, press charges, etc. J-board has its uses, but it should not be, and cannot be required to be, an alternative to the exclusion of law enforcement.

Also, I realized that in my earlier post, while issuing clarifications, I may have come off as disagreeing with Charles. In fact, I generally agree with his points (on this post) about the atmosphere on campus.

Hi Theresa, this is John (Swanson). After the "F*...

2008-09-10T01:05:19.487-07:00

Hi Theresa, this is John (Swanson). After the "F*CK U" incident, I immediately reported the damage to my property to Dean Feldblum (she's the one who sends out the "bias incident" emails to Pomona students). I told her that I was aware that this was not a "hate crime" as defined by the Pomona handbook (which specifically excludes political statements), though interestingly enough it would qualify as a hate crime according to California law. Despite this, I asked her what she thought about notifying the student body that "intolerance of opposing political beliefs--especially when that intolerance is backed up by vandalism and theft--is not acceptable." Her response? This was vandalism, nothing more, and she'd forward it to the J-Board. (I'm sure they're still hard at work attempting to catch the culprit. I'm sure they're just waiting for the DNA test results to come back from the lab.)

I was fairly shocked by the cavalier response, and responded that the technical definition of a bias incident or hate crime notwithstanding, I would expect that the school would have an interest in informing its students about attempts to suppress political speech on campus through vandalism. She told me she'd raise the incident with the "Incident Response Team." That was on May 7. I haven't heard anything since. We'll see if anything happens this semester, but even if something does happen (extremely doubtful), it seems a bit silly to shuffle this through committees rather than just sending out a quick email to students.

Just a couple points for clarification:On the QRC ...

2008-09-05T19:49:54.063-07:00

Just a couple points for clarification:

On the QRC incident - the door didn't stay locked all night. There is a slide card access, which was used by one student at the time of the incident, and that student admitted to entering. Also, the initial police report didn't show anything stolen because the flag wasn't reported missing until the next day.

On the breakfast conversation - The TSL quote is what the initial student report was about. It was the threat of violence that caused a response in the first place. (If the reporting student lied, well, that's a different issue.)

Did Mr. Swanson report the damage of his property to anyone? That's just as much a crime as anyone else, but I never heard that one get reported.

I think there is serious need for sensitivity clas...

2008-09-05T14:17:48.957-07:00

I think there is serious need for sensitivity classes on the part of two of these administrators.

Staci Buchwald: "We are a supportive, caring community and bias related incidents will not be tolerated. Any time a community member becomes aware of a racist, sexist, heterosexist bias incident on our campus, a potential bias incident or hate crime, or any other type of crime, they are urged to [take] appropriate action to combat the incident." -- I therefore take it that homosexist bias incidents against heterosexuals will be tolerated by Buchwald.

Marcelle Holmes: She argued that in the wake of Virginia Tech, they had to check all suspicious behavior before it became a threat; further, they said that the boys were "identifiable white males" so they could understand why "some people" would feel threatened. Would Holmes be so accepting of students feeling threatened by the comments or presence of "identifiable black males"?