by Bryan Gibel
Daily Lobo
Student leaders are urging UNM administrators to address hate speech and intolerance on campus.
A task force formed by former Provost Reed Dasenbrock recommended in January that the University set up an office to address bigotry on campus, but student leaders say they haven't seen results.
Joseph Garcia, president of GPSA and a member of the task force, said the University doesn't have an office to deal with issues of hate speech or intolerance.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
"This is supposedly one of the most diverse universities in the country, but we don't discuss issues of race, gender and class in public forums," he said. "It's high time we do something about the incidents that we know have occurred and those that probably haven't been reported."
Dasenbrock said the University is still trying to allocate funds to get the office started, he said.
"We have a possible angle on getting start-up funding for it from the state," Dasenbrock said. "There was a possible nonrecurring funding source through a grant. Where that stands now with the new provost, I can't say."
Provost Viola Florez said she is working to implement the group's recommendations.
The Hate Crimes Task Force is asking for an annual budget of about $250,000 to create a Campus Climate Office that would deal with issues such as racism, sexual harassment and gender discrimination.
The budget includes a $90,000 salary for a director.
Lt. Pat Davis, spokesman for UNM Police, said the last reported hate crime at UNM happened in 2000, when members of the Sigma Chi fraternity duct-taped a swastika onto the roof of an African-American student's vehicle. The University revoked Sigma Chi's charter for punishment.
"The University police investigate everything that's criminal in nature at UNM, and we have not had hate crimes reported to us in the past four years," Davis said. "So, UNM has been very lucky in that respect. People have respected academic freedom and haven't committed crimes that were related to hate action."
Hate speech might be reported to departments other than UNM Police, Davis said, or might never get reported.
Garcia said he has witnessed hate speech. About three years ago, someone unplugged an American-Indian hip-hop group's equipment, and at least one person yelled racial insults at them.
In April, psychology professor Gordon Hodge found, "We must exterminate the Jews" written at the bottom of his attendance sheet, according to a complaint.
Hodge could not be reached for comment.
The hate crimes office would address incidents of hatred and intolerance through education, counseling, research and transparency, according to the task force's report.
It would aim to educate the campus community about appropriate academic discussion, First Amendment rights and academic freedom principles, according to the report.
Garcia and Ashley Fate, president of ASUNM, said at a regents meeting June 12 that they will draft a joint resolution in the fall supporting the report's reccomendations.
Florez said money has not been allocated for the office yet, but it is being pursued.
"We need to make sure hate incidents never happen again," she said. "Resources are limited, but we'll figure out how to do this and we'll make it right."
