Associated Student Government senators passed emergency legislation Wednesday to create a task force to investigate hate crimes at Northwestern, as more than 40 students stood up around the perimeter of the room to show their support.
The idea for the legislation was the product of Tuesday night’s For Members Only meeting, which was called after students discovered racial slurs on two doors in the Ayers College of Commerce and Industry.
Tracy Carson, FMO coordinator, said she and several others spent long hours drafting the bill and resolution. The task force will be led by a steering committee of 11 students to be chosen by leaders from the Coalition of Color and ASG.
“Working for a common purpose to change hate and take ownership of our Northwestern community has brought us together,” said Carson, a Weinberg junior.
Roommates Jonathon Milam and Lilai Gebremedhin found “black monkey” scrawled on their door and “nigger” accompanied by a sketch of a man being lynched on a door down the hall early Tuesday morning. The roommates were first targeted with other slurs in February.
Though Milam said he does not feel intimidated, he called the act a “hate crime.” He said the university’s classification of such actions as “incidents of bias” is insufficient.
The bill also calls on administrators to define racial slurs as “hate crimes” instead of “incidents of bias” in addition to calling for several specific measures for the task force to address.
“The most important thing is for this to never happen again,” Milam said. “The thing is to make the person as uncomfortable as possible.”
Milam listed finding and punishing the student responsible among his primary concerns. The bill stipulates that the task force lobby administrators to ask for a no-tolerance policy for hate crimes, and demands “aggressive investigations” by University Police.
The legislation also suggests that the task force discuss compensating victims of hate crimes by allowing extensions on assignments and for the targeted students to switch rooms.
Some senators expressed dissatisfaction with the bill in its initial stages, and senators made motions to amend the original legislation. Although no major changes passed, senators had a lengthy debate on the task force’s plans.
“It seemed like 30 different issues and 30 different recommendations in one bill,” said Public Affairs Residential College Sen. David Kim.
Carson said she and ASG President Mike Fong will meet with Vice President for Student Affairs William Banis today to discuss implementing the legislation immediately.
