Hate Graffiti Spurs Mather House Pledge

When a Mather House tutor was roused from his bed late Saturday night by the sound of a vandal crashing into his door, he decided that "enough is enough."

And it seems that many of the students of Mather House agree. In response to last weekend's incident, the most recent in a string of acts of homophobic vandalism this year aimed at tutor K. Kyriell Muhammad, Mather students are circulating a pledge of community tolerance.

The pledge, which begins, "We Live Here Together," has been signed by three-quarters of Mather residents, according to Mather House Committee Chair Wendy M. Lu '00.

Andrea Volfova '00, a House Committee member, said the pledge arose out of students' "general feeling that the House did not do enough" to respond to the recent homophobic incidents.

Justin M. Krebs '00 wrote the pledge Sunday night, and on Monday morning Krebs and Aadil T. Ginwala '00 began collecting signatures in the Mather dining hall.

The pledge now hangs prominently in the dining hall, along with the signatures of more than 300 supporters.

"It's really gratifying to see Mather taking care of Mather," Ginwala said.

Some Mather students said they have not yet had the chance to read and sign the pledge. Many have also posted copies on their doors as a sign of solidarity.

By signing the petition, Mather students declare that they "have zero tolerance for any form of harassment" and "refuse to consider hostile, cowardly, and criminal acts to be reasonable elements of discourse."

Last week, the House Committee posted a declaration of tolerance entitled "The Mather House Creed" in the dining hall, in response to several incidents of homophobic vandalism in September. Volfova said the House Committee has not responded publicly to the Saturday incident because it does not want to alienate students with a different point of view regarding homosexuality.

Volfova and Lu agreed that the pledge--student-initiated, independent of the House, HoCo and all other University organizations--was a perfect way for the Mather community to voice its support for Muhammad and Harvard's gay community in general.

"The message is much more powerful because it's coming right from the students," said Lu.

Volfova added that the pledge serves to rectify the notion that Mather House is an intolerant, homophobic place.

Halla Yang '00 agreed, saying that the vandalism is clearly the work of one isolated person or a couple of people.

"I want people to know that we're united in our stance of not tolerating harassment of anybody because of sexual orientation," he said.

Muhammad, a tutor in religion and a Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender, and Supporters (BGLTS) advisor, said he was pleased with the students' petition. "I think it's great that students took it into their own hands," he said.

Muhammad said he had a political flyer for a Cambridge City Council candidate on his door that was taken down on Saturday. He put it back up, only to find it taken down again. Finally, at about 2 a.m., he was awakened by a loud "war whoop," followed by the sound of someone crashing into his door.

He jumped out of bed and ran to his door, only to find the culprit gone and the various flyers from his door strewn all over the floor.

Muhammad, who has been victimized by homophobic graffiti and vandalism since the beginning of the term, said that this incident has "crossed a boundary between vandalism and violence."

With the Head of the Charles approaching, the Mather House staff is taking measures to "monitor this weekend's activities very carefully," said Muhammad. However, he acknowledged that there was a chance another incident could occur.

"I wouldn't be terribly surprised," he said.