Bellevue College administrators and students are working to combat a series of derogatory messages that were scrawled over campus, which students say they were not made aware of in a timely manner and are now questioning their safety.
Multiple pieces of homophobic, Islamophobic and transphobic graffiti popped up over campus in separate incidents beginning in January, according to records from the Bellevue Police Department.
In one case, the perpetrator(s) wrote “f*** LGBTQ” in a gender-neutral bathroom on campus, while a female Muslim student reportedly found the message “f*** Islam, kill all Muslims” scribbled on the computer desk where she regularly sat.
“I am a walking target,” Muslim student Maryam Hussain said of the hate speech found on campus and incidents of violence towards Muslims across the country.
Tensions flared up when students say the college’s administration failed to inform them of the hate speech’s continuance.
Students were made aware of the first incident of hate speech in January, but were not included in a subsequent message sent out by Bellevue College President Dave Rule, due to what administrators call an oversight.
Last week, Rule reportedly sent an email to faculty members, but not students, about the school’s dedication to providing a “safe and welcoming place” for students, as well as detailing the administration’s intended actions to address these problems. That email never made it to most students, as it was assigned the wrong listserv.
“We feel abandoned by the administration and unsafe on campus. The email from Rule said that they want to ensure a safe and accepting environment for the students to learn at Bellevue College. Well, if anything, this lackluster response has made things worse,” student Joshua Shepard wrote in an op-ed for the student newspaper The Watchdog.
That sentiment was repeated by Shepard and others during a meeting with administrators on May 24. During the meeting, Rule apologized for the administration’s problems with communication, calling it “my bad, my fault.”
But one student responded that his department’s ignorance of how communication works was not an excuse, and others questioned the college’s communication since the hate speech incidents and what administrators were doing to protect students.
“Tell us what is out there on our campus,” BC United member Kara Yughmee asked of officials.
In response, student leaders from different campus groups joined together to form BC United and compile a list of demands that was presented to college officials earlier this month. Better communication was among their requests, as well as an increase in public safety officers and the inclusion of students on incident response teams.
“I have to say, I was very proud of our students,” Vice President of Student Affairs Ata Karim said after the meeting. “If you look at our mission statement, we want our students to be leaders. They really demonstrated empowerment.”
Both he and other officials say they were surprised by the hate speech graffiti, which Karim said he has never before encountered during his tenure at the generally accepting and tolerant college.
College officials are assessing the demands and the timeline of implementation. Bellevue College faces budget constraints as a state-funded institution, but Vice President of Institutional Advancement Gayle Colston Barge said this is a powerful opportunity for the school.
“This is a powerful, teachable moment,” she said. “We can be a model for the way to lead not only in times of peace, but also in challenging times.”
