by Rob Strauss
Staff Writer
Anti-homosexual graffiti bearing obscene words was found Tuesday in one of the men’s bathroom stalls in the Student Center. The graffiti, which took the form of a poem, alluded to the incident on March 29 in which junior Jamie Bigornia was physically assaulted at a local bar.
The graffiti was discovered by two students, Ivan Tircuit and Juan Pablo Miramontes, both juniors, who reported the incident to Harvel Lewis, coordinator of minority student affairs. Lewis feels the graffiti was done sometime between Monday and Tuesday.
An excerpt from the graffiti states:
It started at the bar off campus.
He got his ass beat to a rumpus.
It was all because he likes all men
But little did he know he wouldn’t get a punch in.
He’s learned his lesson not to be so ferrie [sic].
“I was concerned,” said Lewis. “It makes me put my antenna up to watch students to see what is going on.”
“I was disappointed,” said Miramontes.
Below the graffiti, another person added on a line which stated, “Those who gay bash are not secure in their own sexuality and are constantly questioning it.”
Currently, the University does not know who is responsible for the graffiti but the Office of Student Affairs is investigating the incident.
“If we discover who did it, we will take action through the University judicial system,” said Dr. Loretta Rahmani, dean of student affairs.
Dr. Rahmani said the students responsible for the graffiti could be charged with vandalism and verbal harassment.
“I don’t think something like this can be effectively responded to,” said Tircuit. “It doesn’t deserve much of a response.”
The University is currently in the process of painting over the graffiti. Dr. Rahmani would like anybody who knows who is responsible for the graffiti to report to her immediately.
Lewis agrees that University officials should be notified if a person knows who is responsible for the incident.
“It would be great if people who saw stuff like that would report it,” said Lewis.
