On Sept. 22, 2010, Rutgers University college freshman Tyler Clementi jumped off the George Washington Bridge and ended his life.
As the media world raced to cover his death, people began to learn more about what had happened. Clementi was gay. His roommate, Dharun Ravi, and Ravi’s friend Molly Wei, had spied on him and his lover through a webcam. Ravi commented about the incident on Twitter. He tried to use the webcam again. Somehow, Clementi found out about this invasion of privacy.
Three days later, after leaving his wallet on the bridge, Clementi jumped.
The cause of this terrible suicide is said to be a hate crime.
Ravi’s trial is ongoing. An article on The New York Times says that his lawyer argues Ravi was just acting foolishly. Prosecutors counter this by saying that Ravi is homophobic. If Ravi is convicted on counts of invasion of privacy and hate crime, he might receive up to 10 years in jail.
Earlier this month, Fairfield University experienced another sort of crime that could be equally dangerous to the morale of the student body if it is not put to an end. Someone decided to carve racial slurs and an anti-Semitic symbol on one of the plaques in Claver Hall. To our knowledge, no one has been punished for this crime.
Though it is integral for the perpetrator to be apprehended, this pervasiveness of such hate on the campus should also be stemmed.
The Mirror is glad to know that since our coverage of the Feb. 3 incident in our Feb. 8 issue, entitled in the article “Anonymous Vandal Strikes Claver,” the student body has risen to fight such discrimination.
On flyers and emails, students might have seen information about “Students Act Against,” which is a forum scheduled for Thursday March 1 at 7:30 p.m. in LLBCC. Service for Justice and other campus organizations hope to spread awareness about the hatred that still pervades in society. The forum wants students to “come listen and share personal stories, grievances, and strategies for change.”
We at The Mirror do not condone bullying that targets race, gender, or sexual orientation. It’s hateful. It’s despicable. The students of this campus need to be part of the change to stop such hate because bullying at a minuscule level can hurt other’s emotions, but on a larger and more devastating scale, it can lead to someone’s death.
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