“Their way was blocked, they were shoved and there were some homophobic slurs,” said Dean of Students Ben Lieber at a Monday meeting with the College’s Pride Alliance to discuss the incident and its repercussions. “There were also some water balloons thrown from somewhere in Crossett.”
Amherst College Police Department (ACPD) is investigating the incident. On Monday ACPD went to Hampshire with the Facebook.com accounts of College students hoping the Hampshire students could recognize one or more of the offenders.
After a lengthy discourse on homophobia on campus, the Pride Alliance decided to have a “purple solidarity” event today from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Pride Alliance will table today and passersby will have a chance to sign a banner apologizing to the Hampshire students and to learn more about the incident and homophobia.
The planned rally will form a “tunnel of people” that students will have to pass through in order to reach Valentine Dining Hall, according to Coordinator of LGBTQIA Student Services and Support and Area Coordinator Craig Cullinane. The Pride Alliance hopes that the event will convey the message that homophobia is unacceptable. The group wants tolerance to be the predominant tone and temper of the College’s students.
“I want the rally to bring awareness of the incident to the entire Amherst student body,” explained Pride Alliance member Harold Aarons ’10. “There is no excuse for behavior like [Saturday’s] in a school where we’re supposedly progressive in our acceptance of homosexuality.”
“The whole [incident] is unacceptable,” said Lieber, echoing Aarons’ sentiment. “[The incident] is extremely upsetting and [is] something we intend to pursue vigorously.”
In an e-mail sent to the College community Tuesday evening, President Tony Marx expressed his disgust at Saturday night’s incident, as well as at other instances of intolerance on the campus.
“Any single incident would be intolerable. Yet I have been disheartened to learn of more than one such unacceptable incident,” Marx wrote. “This past weekend, several Hampshire College students reported being verbally and physically harassed for their assumed sexual orientation while attending a Pride Alliance party on campus. I have heard about offensive racial jokes among staff members. And this past summer, a small noose — a hideous and terrifying symbol in America — was found in a supply closet in the gym, which College and town officials have been investigating since then.”
Marx concluded, “I know you will join me in refusing to tolerate threatening or belittling behavior. I know you will also join me in a renewed effort to educate ourselves and each other, so that all of us feel unconditionally welcome and valued here.”
The incident has sparked discussion and heated debate on the College’s online DailyJolt.com discussion boards over the facts of the incident and the level of homophobia at the College. Aarons told The Amherst Student, “I’m not sure if the incident can be classified as part of a bigger issue, but I do think that tolerance and acceptance are two separate things. It’s not fair for people to think that the lack of incidents like these [in the past] make this school ‘good for gays.’”