Faculty and Students Tackle Issues of Surge in Hate Crimes

Following a recent spate of homophobic incidents in several Houses and a nationwide increase in reported hate crimes, students and some of the University's most prominent Faculty spoke on this issue during a panel discussion Wednesday night.

Nearly 300 students came to the event at Sanders Theatre, titled "Hate Crimes in America: A Search for Solutions." The discussion, sponsored by the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations, was the first in a series of University-wide talks on hate crimes.

"No community is free from hate," said Serre-Yu Wong '01, who began the evening's discussion. "One of us may be the next victim. More frighteningly, one of us may be the next perpetrator."

Panelists talked about subjects ranging from the religious targets of certain hate crimes to the moral justifications some use when arguing that hate crimes deserve harsher punishments than other crimes.

Porter Professor of Philosophy Robert Nozick called crimes spurred by hate "terroristic acts."

"I don't have a solution," he said. "I wish I did."

He suggested that a hate-motivated murder should receive a more severe penalty than a random murder because such a crime could count as threatening members of a certain minority group.

Panelist Emily N. Tabak '00, a government concentrator whose thesis is on hate crimes, said such acts are worse than other crimes not because of the moral abhorrence of their motivations, but because of their moral effects on society.

Professor of Education and Social Policy Gary A. Orfield said America has regressed since the civil rights era of the 1960s, adding that subtler forms of hate need to be addressed.

"Everyone's against church-burning. Everyone's against someone being killed and dragged down a highway. Violence is the extreme in a spectrum," Orfield said.

Other panelists included Professor of the Practice of Indo-Muslim Languages and Culture Ali S. A. Asani; Lisa D. Cook, a research fellow at the Center for International Development; Professor of Government Michael J. Sandel; Professor of Education Marcelo Suarez-Orozco; and Wong, the Harvard Foundation's Student Advisory Committee co-chair.

Some panelists shared personal anecdotes. Cook, who is black, told a story from her family's history.

Her grandfather, a pastor in Georgia in 1943, was approached by one of his parishioners for help confronting his landlord, whose sons were attacking the parishioner's daughters. The parishioner was later found decapitated.

Asani pointed out the religious facet of hate crimes, saying that following the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing of a federal building, Muslims in America were frequently the targets of hate crimes. Following the bombing incident, many unfairly assumed that the perpetrator was Islamic or Arabic, Asani said.

And here at Harvard, Asani said he has also encountered stereotypes. He recounted a discussion with a graduate student who asked how he could believe in Islam.

"He asked the question, 'How is it that someone like you--a professor at Harvard, rational, intelligent--can believe in a religion like Islam?'" Asani said.

Sandel said that he thought Nozick's proposed solution--using heavier punishments for hate crimes because they are also intended to threaten--was "elegant." He also suggested that the idea that laws should not be used to pass moral judgement might need a re-evaluation.

"Aren't they more despicable because they're hateful?" Sandel asked.

During a question-and-answer session, Orfield and Sandel both said the line between free speech and hate speech is hard to define.

One audience member asked the panel to address the Freshman Dean's Office policy on allowing students who don't want to room with homosexuals to switch rooms. Orfield responded, suggesting a difference between a sexual orientation "preference" and an "imposition" on a roommate by acting on a sexual orientation preference.

A Jewish student asked what to do with groups that discriminate but are themselves targets of discrimination. He cited the Nation of Islam as an example.

"You must condemn that speech within your group," Nozick said.

Asani also responded to the question, pointing out that the Nation of Islam does not represent all Muslims, and adding that it is necessary to foster personal connections.

"You always have a spectrum within every group," Asani said. "You can't let one part of the group represent the whole spectrum."

The panel also addressed a question on the problem of enforcing the civil rights of illegal immigrants and the "gay panic" defense used in the Matthew Shepard murder trial, in which a gay college student was killed for his sexual orientation.

S. Allen Counter, the Foundation's director, said his organization hopes to host discussions in the Houses in the future.