Hateful Vandalism and Albion's Response
This archival collection highlights hate crimes on the Albion College campus and how the community has responded throughout the years.
Introduction:
Throughout the history of Albion College, there are multiple accounts of there being discriminatory actions or incidents that have taken place right here at Albion College. These racist, and hateful actions have been ones that often get talked about in the media. This problem seems to be never changing and always occurring. Throughout the years here at Albion College, there have been many forms of these discriminatory actions. Whether it be through speech or actions, vandalism is one of the long-lasting hate crimes that leave a physical and emotional mark.
In this Archival Collection, there are many examples of hateful speech being shown in the form of graffiti throughout the years of Albion College's history. These articles display an assortment of examples of public demonstrations of hate crimes spread throughout different locations on campus. These hate crimes spread negativity, exclusion, and hate in the community. But these incidents also spread togetherness, positivity, and light in such dark moments in time.
*Please note that all of these articles have been taken out of the Albion College Pleiad archives.
"Offensive graffiti plagues Wesley Hall"
This news article was published on September 17, in the year 1999, by The Pleiad Staff at the time. This article highlights two hateful incidents that took place in Wesley Hall earlier in the month. On August, twenty-second near the women’s bathrooms the walls, windows, mirrors, and doors were covered with derogatory references targeting sexual orientation, race, national origin, religion, and gender. There were reports of statements including KKK propaganda and swastikas carved into the surfaces, written on whiteboards, and shower curtains torn down and shoved into the toilets in the bathroom. In response to this incident, the college hosted a forum in Goodrich Chapel on August twenty-third where more than half the student body was present. This was an event that served as a space for students to ask questions and well as raise their views and fears regarding the incidents. Two days following the forum The Battle Creek Enquirer published an article talking about the events that took place at Albion College in Wesley Hall and the forum that the school hosted to help stop the spread of hate throughout the community. The school was offering a one thousand dollar reward to anyone who knew any information regarding the incidents.
"Offensive graffiti persists in Albion classrooms"
This news article was written by Jenn Johnson, a staff writer for The Albion Pleiad, on the 29 of October, in the year 1999. This article addresses some of the same issues that were highlighted in the article above but emphasize the point that graffiti is not just isolated to Wesley Hall. These public displays of graffiti are prominent on desks in Vulgamore, Robinson, and the Library. The students' commentary within this article highlights their frustrations with the lack of change and confusion about why these incidents are occurring. Engraved on some of these desks found in these buildings were statements like, “I hate N——s.” and “have a happy Holocaust” These students shared their thoughts on how sitting down at a desk with these comments on them would severely offend them. There was a call for immediate response to the situation and that began with removing the vandalized property from the builds. But that is only the beginning of solutions for what the student body believes should be addressed. The need for a more welcoming and accepting environment at Albion College.
"Art combats Wesley graffiti incident"
On December 3, of the year 1999, Lynsey Kluever, a staff writer for The Albion Pleiad published an article displaying the “The Art as Political Action'' class combating hateful discriminatory crimes that had taken place in the Wesley bathrooms earlier in the year. They called this the “Wesley Hall Art Project'' and was an act to bring the student body together to bring light to a dark situation that had hurt many members of the community. They wanted the art to spread messages of love, positivity, acceptance, and togetherness. On one of the stalls, they painted an earth with people holding hands around it, signifying the need for unity. These students wanted to show their peers that it is ultimately up to them the culture that they create on campus. They want Albion College to be a place where diversity is welcomed and not a campus of exclusion and hate. On the back of one of the structures, the students wrote out an assortment of newspaper articles about the graffiti and the administration's response to the incidents, as well as, the Birmingham Pledge. This pledge states the importance of acknowledging that everyone is “entitled to dignity and respect, regardless of race or color” and that “every act or thought of racial prejudice is harmful.” The artist left space below the pledge for students to sign their names in agreement with being someone who believes and will follow the pledge of making Albion College a place of peace and not hate.
"Albion Students Respond to Discriminatory Acts on Campus"
The Albion Pleiad article from April 22, 2019
On April 22, of the year 2019, Gabby Henriksen, a senior at Albion College and news editor of The Pleiad, wrote a news article addressing incidents that took place in Wesley Hall on the fifth of April. These incidents include an individual writing “KKK” on a cardboard box and placing that box outside of an African-American student's dorm room. A few hours later following this initial event, a report of an Asian Awareness Group t-shirt had been defaced on social media and placed inside the Umbrella House. The Umbrella House is a unique building with the respect that there are only certain students that have access to the building. Umbrella groups “focus on spreading diversity on campus through the education and celebration of different backgrounds, cultures, sexual orientations/genders, and disabilities.” The school responded with campus-wide emails stating that the college does not support the things being done and that Albion College is supposed to be a “diverse, safe place for all students.” Many organizations of inclusion on campus organized peaceful demonstrations to combat these hateful crimes. But their efforts were not enough to stop the hate. Just a little over a week later on April 15, another racist incident occurred. A student who had a whiteboard on his door in Wesley Hall was vandalized with racist and vulgar speech regarding him and his roommate. The individual who had written on the board was caught and was asked to leave the campus. The student body continued to fight for a more diverse, inclusive, and welcoming campus and wanted all the hate and violence to cease.
"Albion Campus Rallies Together After Another Discrimination Incident"
The Albion Pleiad article from October 30, 2019
This article was written on October 30, 2019, in The Pleiad underneath the news section. This article was written by an Albion College student named Teri Fadayomi, who was a senior at the time. He was a staff writer specializing in writing news pieces for The Pleiad. On the twenty-first of October, Campus Safety had to inform the student body at Albion College of the acts of discrimination that had happened in Seaton Hall. The vandalism occurred on a mirror with a message that read, “KKK” and had an image of a pentagram with 666 written around it. The school was working as hard as it could to identify the individual who committed this hate crime and hold that person responsible for their offensive actions. In the meantime, the college came together as a community to shed light in this time of darkness. They held two public events to address the incidents that had happened. These two events were a community conversation where the student body and staff were welcomed to talk about their emotions regarding the incident, and a silent march to reflect on the events that had happened as well as how they believe they should respond as a community.
The Albion Pleiad article from October 30, 2019
"Racist Incidents Rock Albion College Community"
The Albion Pleiad article from April 5, 2021
On April 5, 2021, Sam Semerau, an alumni from Albion College and past writer for The Albion Pleiad published an article communicating the most recent anti-Black and racist events that had occurred on and near Albion College’s campus. This news article brings attention to the several incidents that have happened in the past two weeks in several of the residential buildings located on campus. Several marks of graffiti were found in Mitchell Towers and Wesley Hall. The incident that happened within Wesley Hall was when a Residential Assistant woke up to see the words “fat n—-“ written on the whiteboard on their door. Following this event there were multiple reports of discriminatory actions found in the stairwell of Mitchell Towers. Several marks of graffiti were found throughout the stairwells stating, “KKK,” “KKK White Power,” “Albion is racist. We do exist KKK” and “Die N—- Please!” and a six-pointed star with the numbers “666” written on the inside. Campus Safety after receiving the reports of these incidents immediately started walkthroughs of both buildings and promised that those responsible would face immediate suspension as well as criminal charges.
Additional photo of the graffiti from the same article from The Albion Pleiad article published April 5, 2021
"Student Identified for Racist Mitchell Towers Graffiti"
The Albion Pleiad article from April 7, 2021
This article is a follow-up to the article listed above. This article was published on April 7, 2021, by Sam Semearau, an alumnus of Albion College who also wrote the article, “Racist Incidents Tock Albion College Community.” In this article the author addresses another incident that had happened following all the previous events stated in the article published two prior with a mother incident that took place again in Mitchell Towers. The graffiti that was found stated, “Call the swat #KKKTime.” After this incident took place the college responded by bringing in some more reinforcements to identify who was committing these hateful crimes. The student was identified and immediately suspended from campus while an investigation continued. One of the most alarming threats that were left in the form of graffiti in Mitchell towers found earlier in the week stated, “White lives Matter Rally at 4/7/2021 Let’s Kill all N—- on this Campus.” In this article, the author states that the college admits to knowing that there is a very extensive history of acts of racism and that the institution is doing its best but the only thing that can truly fix this problem is for the community to support each other.
About The Author
Caroline Rusinoff is a sophomore at Albion College and is from Stow, Ohio. She is a Kinesiology major and is a part of the Prentiss M. Brown Honors Program. She plans on obtaining her bachelor's degree in Kinesiology at Albion College but then furthering her studies at Oakland University to get a degree in Nursing. Caroline’s dream profession is becoming a Pediatric Nurse due to her love for medicine and her love for children. Caroline was born and raised in a white, Christian, and middle-class household with two hard-working and loving parents. She has been blessed with the opportunity to get a private school education her whole life and is the first of her siblings to attend college. As a white woman, Caroline will never have to experience the pain and torment that many students have to endure when seeing these hateful marks across campus. She believes in change and that anyone can make a change, no matter how big or small. Caroline's life motto is, to always leave a place better than you found it.
