Vandalism of several Syracuse University LGBT Resource Center campaign signs sparked a Department of Public Safety investigation as well as a community-wide dialogue about symbolic violence on campus.

The signs were part of a “passive” educational effort to raise awareness of the trans* community at SU, said Chase Catalano, director of the LGBT Resource Center. The campaign was meant to build up to Wednesday’s national Transgender Day of Remembrance, a day to remember those who died from transphobia-related crimes and bring attention to the violence faced by those in the trans* community.

A candle-light vigil will be held at Syracuse City Hall Wednesday in honor of the Transgender Day of Remembrance and to specifically remember LaTeisha Green, who was shot in 2008 for being transgender.

The SU LGBT Resource Center defines trans* as a term that includes transgender, transsexual and other transitional gender identities.

On Friday, Catalano said, he found the signs to be bent, stolen, tossed, stepped on and spit on.

That day, a report was filed to DPS. The department is currently conducting an investigation, said Hannah Warren, DPS’ public information and internal communications officer.

Catalano wrote a letter to the SU community in response to the vandalism, with an introduction by Interim-Chancellor Eric Spina; Rebecca Reed Kantrowitz, interim senior vice president and dean of student affairs; and Kal Alston, senior vice president for Human Capital Development.

In the letter, Spina, Kantrowitz and Alston stated that the university is “deeply committed to inclusion and to ensuring that all members of our richly diverse campus are treated with dignity and respect, and we acknowledge the pain and frustration this incident has caused.”

Kantrowitz could not be reached for additional comment.

Catalano said the letter was intended to inform the community of the effect the vandalism had on not only the LGBT community, but the entire university community as well. He added that the LGBT community will not silently let this act of symbolic violence go, and he hopes this incident will show the importance of having an inclusive community.

“I wanted to make clear in the letter that this happened to everyone,” Catalano said. “At the end of the day, as much as people want to potentially focus on this happening to the LGBT Resource Center, and the populations we directly and indirectly serve, it happened to all of Syracuse University. We need to stop thinking about these incidents as personal interactions, but really as larger reflections.”

He added that he wouldn’t necessarily classify the vandalism as a hate crime, since hate crimes focus more on motive and intention. Catalano said that, to him, this was more about targeted transphobia and the effect it had on a particular population.

This is the only incident of symbolic violence that has been this public thus far in the semester, Catalano said. But he added that this might not be the only incident that occurred since people who are targeted often don’t speak up.

Catalano said he has seen a lot of support from the administration as well as from social media, specifically Facebook. He added that he remains optimistic that the support will continue and that this incident will keep the dialogue going about the importance of inclusivity on campus.

“To do the work that we do, I come from a place of hope,” he said. “I have hope that we can grow from this and this will be a way for people to think more critically about their actions, even the ones they think people aren’t watching. I just want people to be more reflective thinkers and worry about how their actions might have an effect on other people.”

 

Published on November 19, 2013 at 8:15 pm

Contact Meredith: mhnewman@syr.edu | @MerNewman93