BC Students Rally for Anti-Hate Crime Policy

In response to an alleged race-based hate crime that occurred in a Boston College (BC) dormitory late Thursday night, students at BC staged a rally Monday.

The participants said they were protesting what they saw as the lack of a uniform hate crime policy at BC.

“We’re speaking out against the fact that there is no public or institutionalized hate crime protocol,” BC senior and former African-American, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American (AHANA) Leadership Council President Omolara Bewaji told The Heights, the student newspaper, Monday.

Five students were involved in the incident in Roncalli Hall around 9:30 PM last Thursday, according to The Heights. BC sophomore April T. Browne, who identified herself as a friend of the alleged victims, said that all five students were minorities and that they claimed that a female Caucasian student verbally attacked them using racial slurs, including the word “nigger.”

“One of them actually kicked one of my friends in the face,” Browne said.

Between 100 and 200 students participated in the rally, held in the BC Quad from 11:45 AM to 1 PM. It was organized by the AHANA Leadership Council.

Seye Akinbulumo, vice president of AHANA Leadership Council and a senior at BC, told The Heights that participants in the rally said they felt official school policy did not address crimes of this variety to an adequate extent and called for more specific methods of dealing with and keeping track of hate crimes.

The 2006-2007 BC Student Guide mandates that “students found responsible for committing a bias motivated offense face sanctions up to and including suspension or dismissal from the University.”

BC Dean for Student Development Robert A. Sherwood was present at the rally and told students that the school was following protocol, Browne said.

According to Director of Public Affairs John B. Dunn, Sherwood cleared up some of the confusion at the protest about policy.

“I think a lot of students’ questions were addressed by the rally.” Dunn said.

The case will probably be heard by an administrative hearing board next week, he added. The names of the students involved in the incident have not been released.