Hate Report not yet implemented
Oct. 9, 2007
The Hate Report, a statistical log of anonymously reported hate crimes on campus, has not yet been implemented this year, although Missouri Students Association President Rachel Anderson told The Maneater in January it was one of MSA's top priorities.
The report would take the form of a survey, in which students could anonymously report instances and circumstances of hate crimes that occurred on campus.
The Hate Report was implemented in 1995 and ended in 1999 after its main proponent, Marcia Chatelain, graduated.
Kelley Robinson, former MSA executive assistant for Diversity Affairs, said she finished writing the survey over the summer.
Robinson, who is no longer affiliated with MSA, and MSA Multicultural Issues Committee Chairwoman Sameera Ali co-authored the original MSA resolution and pushed for the Hate Report to be reinstated in their MSA presidential campaign last year.
Robinson said the goal is to have a Web site in which people can fill out the survey.
"It's important in a community like this where people haven't been exposed to other kinds of cultures," Robinson said.
She said there is not a good way to anonymously report hate crimes in Columbia.
Anderson said she didn't know the status of the report and that it is under the jurisdiction of Robinson and the Department of Student Communication. But DSC Director Amanda King said she also does not know the status of the report and was not in charge of it.
King said DSC is in charge of media relations and other projects. Robinson said after she submitted the survey to Anderson and King she has not worked with the report.
Anderson said she had not received a survey from Robinson but said that part of the reason the report had made no progress was because of Robinson and Ali's lessened roles within MSA.
King said the report was Robinson's project, and MSA and DSC were there to provide support. King said the only information she has about the current status of the report is that it has been passed on to administration.
Student Success Center Director Michael Prewitt will talk to MSA this week about implementing something similar to the Hate Report, Robinson said.
According to the annual Campus Crime and Safety Report, published in September, there have been no hate crimes reported on campus since 2004. In 2004, three hate crimes were reported.
MU Police Department Capt. Brian Weimer said MUPD does not have a mechanism for anonymously reporting hate crimes.
"Our officers are capable of receiving that report just like they are capable of receiving any report," he said.
Columbia Police Department Chief Randy Boehm said the Columbia Police Department does not have a formal mechanism for anonymously reporting hate crimes, but a person could write an unsigned letter or call the Crime Stoppers hotline.
Boehm said it is rare for the Columbia Police Department to deal with hate crimes, although some might be unreported. He said he thinks if there were many hate crimes, they would be reported more frequently.
"I would be surprised if there are people who are actually injured, and we don't know about those cases," Boehm said, "There are probably people that receive some kind of correspondence, and we might never know about that."
He said the survey would be a good way to "have a finger on the pulse of what's going on in the community."
Robinson said she would like to see a Web site created on which students could anonymously report discrimination in the classroom.
"Hate and bias are fostered here," she said. "We just want to make it clear that things are happening here."
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