Manchester Students Rally Against Hate
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
NORTH MANCHESTER - Two hundred students and faculty members gathered at Manchester College for a "Stand Against Hate" vigil Monday.
The event was intended to send a message to the perpetrators of recent hate crimes on the campus and to hate in general.
Last week, three Manchester students received hate messages by e-mail, AOL Instant Messenger and telephone that were, according to director of public relations, Jeri Kornegay, "absolutely hateful, extremely threatening and targeted at Jews, women, gays and lesbians."
Since then, an "outpouring of concern" from students and staff prompted the vigil's organization. The event gave members of nearly every academic department and organization the chance to publicly stand and speak out against hate.
College officials were first notified of the hate crimes on April 3 when the first message was received. The first message may have been a fluke, or as a student said, "a drunken act, unthinkable when sober." But, after two more similar and equally threatening messages were received in the days following, the college took swift action.
President Parker Marden promptly visited the victims and offered them refuge in the president's residence, Tall Oaks. A campus-wide memo also was sent out explaining the nature of the crimes and their implications and the school began working with the North Manchester Police Department, America Online, Yahoo! and Verizon as well as campus security to quickly identify the perpetrators.
In his memo to the college community, Marden said, "It (the college) is held together by tolerance, a sense of fairness, and a firm belief in what our mission statement calls 'the infinite worth of every person.' These commitments are unequivocal. Your support does not require approval; it does expect understanding and fairness to those who differ. In particular, hate and intimidation can not be allowed to stand."
According to Kornegay, situations like this arise rarely and when they do, they are answered quickly. She said that "on a large campus or on a different kind of campus, things like this may happen. At Manchester, it is very, very rare."
The only other incident of hate crimes on the campus dates to March 1998 when a crime of a slightly different nature took place.
A racist e-mail was sent to all minority and international students at Manchester. [[In-content Ad]]
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NORTH MANCHESTER - Two hundred students and faculty members gathered at Manchester College for a "Stand Against Hate" vigil Monday.
The event was intended to send a message to the perpetrators of recent hate crimes on the campus and to hate in general.
Last week, three Manchester students received hate messages by e-mail, AOL Instant Messenger and telephone that were, according to director of public relations, Jeri Kornegay, "absolutely hateful, extremely threatening and targeted at Jews, women, gays and lesbians."
Since then, an "outpouring of concern" from students and staff prompted the vigil's organization. The event gave members of nearly every academic department and organization the chance to publicly stand and speak out against hate.
College officials were first notified of the hate crimes on April 3 when the first message was received. The first message may have been a fluke, or as a student said, "a drunken act, unthinkable when sober." But, after two more similar and equally threatening messages were received in the days following, the college took swift action.
President Parker Marden promptly visited the victims and offered them refuge in the president's residence, Tall Oaks. A campus-wide memo also was sent out explaining the nature of the crimes and their implications and the school began working with the North Manchester Police Department, America Online, Yahoo! and Verizon as well as campus security to quickly identify the perpetrators.
In his memo to the college community, Marden said, "It (the college) is held together by tolerance, a sense of fairness, and a firm belief in what our mission statement calls 'the infinite worth of every person.' These commitments are unequivocal. Your support does not require approval; it does expect understanding and fairness to those who differ. In particular, hate and intimidation can not be allowed to stand."
According to Kornegay, situations like this arise rarely and when they do, they are answered quickly. She said that "on a large campus or on a different kind of campus, things like this may happen. At Manchester, it is very, very rare."
The only other incident of hate crimes on the campus dates to March 1998 when a crime of a slightly different nature took place.
A racist e-mail was sent to all minority and international students at Manchester. [[In-content Ad]]