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WSU Student Conduct records have reported 11 hate-affiliated incidents in the last five years. But some WSU faculty feel the true number is much higher.

“I don’t believe the numbers on the pages reflect what’s actually happening,” said Chris Wuthrich, Dean of Students and director of Student Conduct.

In Washington, school and college campuses are the second most likely location for a hate crime to occur, according to the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs 2008 crime statistics. On the WSU campus, Wuthrich and other faculty suggest that hate crimes and other bias-motivated incidents are underreported.

Victims may not report a hate crime simply because of the nature of the crime.

“My speculation leads me to believe one main reason is most victims of hate crimes wish it had never happened,” said Raul Sanchez, director of the Center for Human Rights at WSU. “They want to get past it. They don’t want to relive it. It’s very uncomfortable and painful.”

If a victim reports an incident and a crime is convicted, the information can become available to the community as a public record. This fear of the matter becoming public deters many victims from reporting an incident, Sanchez said.

Chief Bill Gardner of the WSU Police Department also suggests a victim’s fear of retribution as a reason for not reporting.

Wuthrich draws a parallel between student mentality about interacting with authority figures and the lack of reported hate crimes. He said 65 percent of injured college students nationwide do not seek medical attention.

“This gives you an idea of student mindset and culture in general towards acting with authority,” Wuthrich said.

Chief Gardner recognizes another authority issue.

“There is a distrust of the system,” he said.

State-wide, half of all hate crimes are racially motivated while about 18 percent are based on sexual orientation or gender biases, according to the WASPC. At WSU, the reverse appears to be the norm – more than 60 percent of hate incidents are sexual orientation and gender motivated while about 27 percent are prompted by race, according to Student Conduct’s Clery Hate Crime Summary.

This difference may be related to the particular culture of a college town compared to the rest of the state, said Heidi Stanton, director of Gender Identity/Expression and Sexual Orientation Resource Center.

“At WSU people tend to be fairly open with how they identify,” she said.

Stanton said there is a substantial amount of acceptance for sexual orientation, but many of the students that identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender are fairly visible on campus.

“This is because of their programs, advertising, rallies, stories in the Evergreen and so on,” Stanton said. “LGBT are more visible on campus than they might be somewhere away from campus.”

The summary from Student Conduct shows 11 hate-affiliated incidents in the last five years, but the comparative crime statistics from the WSU Police Department report just five hate crimes over the same time span.

Wuthrich said the discrepancy could exist because Student Conduct may record a situation and turn the incident over to the police department. If the police do not have enough evidence to prosecute or convict, the incident may not be reported by the police as a crime.

“If I go out to my car at the end of the day and it’s been keyed, I can’t say I’ve been targeted because I’m blonde,” said Marcia McNannay, the WSU Police Department records manager. “There has to be enough evidence to show that the crime was directed at a person because of a specific bias.”

Because Student Conduct does not deal with prosecutions or convictions, the incident may be in Student Conduct’s records but not in the police department crime statistics.

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Contacts:
Bill Gardner
(509) 335-8548
police@wsu.edu

Chris Wuthrich
(509) 335-5757
wuthrich@wsu.edu

Raul Sanchez
(509) 335-8288
raulmsanchez@wsu.edu

Heidi Stanton
(509) 335-8841
hstanton@wsu.edu

Marcia McNannay
(509) 335-1655
mcnannay@wsu.edu


Other sources:
“Hate Crime.” Crime in Washington State 2008 Annual Report. Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs. 2 Dec. 2009. access at: http://www.waspc.org/index.php?c=Crime%20Statistics