TEP Graffiti Must Be Publicly Addressed

   The Tech_ received a copy of this letter, addressed to several
   administrators, including President Charles M. Vest.
   
   _Early Friday morning, Nov. 12, members of Lambda Chi Alpha broke into
   and entered the house of Tau Epsilon Phi. The brothers of Lambda Chi
   Alpha forcibly removed TEP's basement door and then proceeded to
   vandalize the house. They spread dye and noxious waste around the
   kitchen and left a bag of insects in one of the sinks. The LCA
   brothers also defaced the sidewalk in front of the house with the
   homophobic slur: "TO TEP ' 33 NERDS + 1 QUEER," which directly
   attacked the homosexual and bisexual members of Tau Epsilon Phi.
   
   The president of Lambda Chi Alpha publicly admitted that members of
   his fraternity were responsible for the incident. LCA made a monetary
   settlement with TEP for the property damage, but has made no public
   apology for the blatant homophobic nature of the attack. The MIT
   campus and administration have largely ignored the actions of the LCA
   brothers, viewing the incident merely as a childish fraternity prank.
   LCA's attack on TEP was not a harmless prank -- it was a premeditated
   act of vandalism accompanied by a blatant homophobic slur. Such
   tactics are commonly used by hate groups to intimidate and threaten
   lesbigay people and other minorities and should not be tolerated
   behavior at MIT or anywhere. MIT's lack of response pays no heed to
   the serious impact of this incident on the gay and bisexual members of
   TEP as well as the lesbigay community at large. 
   
   MIT's harassment policy states: "Harassment is any conduct, verbal or
   physical, on or off campus, which has the intent or effect of
   unreasonably interfering with an individual's or group's educational
   or work performance at MIT or which creates an intimidating, hostile
   or offensive educational, living, and work environment." (_Dealing
   With Harassment at MIT_, p. 15)
   
   The events of Nov. 12 clearly constitute harassment. The effect of
   waking to find one's home has been broken into and vandalized with a
   homophobic slur written in bright yellow letters on the front sidewalk
   definitely "creates an intimidating, hostile" environment, not only
   for the residents of that house, but for the many gay, lesbian, and
   bisexual people at MIT who are subject to attack solely on the basis
   of their sexual orientation. That such an incident has gone
   unchallenged by most of the campus certainly indicates that the
   climate for gay, lesbian, and bisexual people at MIT is, in general,
   unwelcoming and negative. 
   
   Not only does the attack constitute harassment according to MIT, the
   state of Massachusetts takes such offenses rather seriously as well.
   This incident could easily be judged as a hate crime by Boston
   authorities. Hate crimes, as defined by Massachusetts law, are
   "criminal acts which are motivated, in part or whole, by bias or
   bigotry directed at a victim due to that victim's
   race/ethnicity/national origin, religion, sexual orientation, or
   handicapped status." (ibid., p. 65)
   
   Despite the fact that this incident clearly violates the MIT
   harassment policy and may even be a hate crime under Massachusetts
   law, the MIT administration has remained silent. As of yet, MIT has
   expressed no intention of punishing the fraternity members involved,
   nor has it made any public acknowledgment of the detrimental effect
   that this incident has had on lesbigay individuals at MIT. MIT's lack
   of response makes a mockery of its own harassment policy and of its
   purported commitment to ending discrimination at MIT.
   
   The effects of this attack on gay, lesbian, and bisexual individuals
   on the MIT campus are numerous and far-reaching. Some members of MIT's
   lesbigay community have expressed fear for their safety. Others have
   expressed fear of ridicule or attack for being "too out of the
   closet." Many of us are outraged. The lack of response by MIT's
   administration indicates that they neither know nor care how gay,
   lesbian, and bisexual members of the student body are affected by this
   specific incident. It also sends out a clear message that the
   administration is not interested in combating the overall homophobic
   atmosphere in which we live and work at MIT.
   
   We demand that the MIT administration, the Interfraternity Council,
   and Lambda Chi Alpha _publicly_ address the homophobic nature of this
   attack, the ways in which the attack contributes to the already
   existing negative atmosphere for lesbian, gay, and bisexual students
   at MIT, and how each of those organizations intends to improve the
   atmosphere for lesbigay people on campus. Hopefully, all of MIT will
   benefit from such a dialogue.
   
   Teresa W. Lau '95
   
   _Political Coordinator, Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals and Friends at MIT_
   
   Kristen K. Nummerdor '94
   
   _GAMIT General Coordinator
   
   _and 98 others
   

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Copyright 1993 by The Tech. All rights reserved.
This story was published on  Tuesday,  November 23, 1993.
Volume  113, Number 60
The story was printed on page  4.
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