A University male student and his male guest were attacked by five white males on Grounds April 4, University Police Lieut. Melissa Fielding said. The assault was motivated by bias against the perceived sexual orientation of the two victims, according to a statement from the Office of the Dean of Students.
Fielding said the crime took place around 3:00 a.m. near Scott Stadium. Five white males approached the student and his guest, yelled homophobic slurs and then hit them, she said. When one victim attempted to call for help, the attackers smashed his cell phone. Eventually both victims were able to run away. They were then treated for minor physical injuries at the University Hospital and released from care, Fielding said. Because of the ongoing nature of the investigation, Fielding said she could not yet say whether the police department has identified any suspects in the case.
The Office of the Dean of Students sent an e-mail statement to the University community April 10 to explain the incident.
President of Queer and Allied Activism Seth Kaye, a first-year Engineering student who is also a friend of one of the victims, said the e-mail statement sent by Dean of Students Allen Groves was accurate, though some details were missing. The two victims were holding hands, which likely made the attackers notice them, Kaye said, noting that the victims were not dressed flamboyantly or in a way that might have identified them as homosexuals. He also said the crime was not a robbery because the attackers did not steal anything from the student or his guest, even if they destroyed a cell phone.
When a crime is committed against a University student, a campus-wide police alert is sometimes sent to members of the University community, as happened last month when a student was robbed in his Madison Lane apartment. Kaye noted that an alert was not sent immediately after the April 4 incident, a fact he said leads him to believe police officers did not think the crime was serious enough to warrant that kind of response. The University student victim did not respond to an e-mail inquiry about the incident as of press time.
Part of the reason, Fielding said, that University Police did not send an immediate e-mail alert was because officials at first were confused about whether Charlottesville or University Police had jurisdiction of the case. The Charlottesville Police initially took charge of the investigation, but after the student and his guest gave complete details about the location of the crime, the case was transferred to the University Police. Fielding added that in the event of a similar crime in the future, the University Police likely would move more quickly to send out an alert than it did after the April 4 incident.
Fielding also said because the assault was a hate crime, it carried delicate issues of privacy and confidentiality and was thus best handled by the Office of the Dean of Students.
“Crimes that are motivated by bias against any type of group are particularly repugnant and can be difficult to handle,” Groves said, adding that if the attackers were students, they could face charges by the Commonwealth’s justice system and the University Judiciary Committee.
UJC Chair Michael Chapman, a fourth-year Education student, noted that while any assault on a University student always has been considered a serious matter, a recent amendment to the UJC constitution makes bias-motivated assault even more serious.
“If any crime, especially assault, is motivated by bias, it can carry a more serious sanction, including expulsion from the University,” Chapman said.
Groves said bias-motivated crimes are hard to deal with because of the effect they can have on their targets. Groves’ office helps students that are victims of such crimes by contacting the student’s professors, connecting the student with counseling and psychological services, and, if the victim is a first-year student, by checking in with his or her resident advisor, he said.
The LGBT resource center also is seeking to offer support by organizing a Stand Against Hatred rally Thursday. Groves and a representative from the University Police will speak about the incident and how to prevent similar events from occurring again. The event will culminate with a moment of silence and vigil. Groves also will lead a discussion following the rally.
The rally is meant to raise awareness of hate crimes, said third-year College student and LGBT volunteer Christi Thomas. “A strong show of support will demonstrate how far we’ve come how far we have to go,” she added.
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