After seeing the article, “Silence follows anti-Semitic acts at Guilford,” I was pleased that the bias incident was not being ignored. After reading the article in its entirety, I felt it necessary to respond; however, I can only speak from my perspective as a Binford Hall resident advisor. I initially learned about the incident from fellow RAs on the Binford staff, and it was later discussed at our weekly meeting with our hall director. We were encouraged to be on the lookout for other displays of vandalism, and to my knowledge, no others have been documented. While I share the writer’s frustration with acts of hatred occurring on our campus, we seem to differ in our views of the college administration’s response quality. From seeing it firsthand, I can say that the line of communication between residence hall staff and the administration is solid. The RA who responded to the incident contacted Campus Life, who then notified our Bias Incident team, which appears to be composed of a group of administrators, community members, and students. Within three days, the Bias Incident team issued a response through the Guilford Buzz. Although the incident was upsetting, the response to it was nearly textbook. Last winter hall director Meg Evans and I attended the “Stop the Hate” conference in Charlotte. We learned an eye-opening fact – not all colleges have a Bias Incident team. We, as the Guilford community, should appreciate the fact that we even have such a group. It is saddening when bias incidents occur on our campus. Such events are reminders that Guilford is no utopia. Let us not accuse our administration of “sweeping incidents under the rug,” but rather, we should applaud the fact that our administration even created a team to respond to bias incidents that occur on our campus.Brian Daniel, Binford RA
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Letter to the Editor
Brian Daniel
•
September 23, 2010
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