Dartmouth acts against racial slurs

A week of racial hate incidents at Dartmouth College ended Friday as the community gathered for a rally to express its outrage. In two separate incidents, Asian students reported that racial slurs had been written on their dormitory doors. Faculty, students and other community members met in front of the Dartmouth administrative building to protest racial intolerance Friday afternoon. But administration officials are not overly concerned that the incidents are indicative of large-scale racial tensions, according to Roland Adams, a Dartmouth spokesperson. Students have suggested sponsoring large community dinners to bring people of various backgrounds together. And minority leaders have also said they would encourage more non-minority students to attend their meetings and events, Adams added. Dartmouth sophomore Jeffrey Link admitted to being the culprit in one of the incidents and was charged with disorderly conduct by the Hanover, N.H. police last week. In the first incident, Link wrote racial slurs on the dormitory doors of two Asian students. A disciplinary review is forthcoming for Link but it is too early to determine what if any disciplinary action will be taken against him, Adams said. Link apologized publicly in a letter printed in Monday's issue of student newspaper The Dartmouth. In his letter, Link said he experienced the hate of others as a deserved consequence of his actions. "I was wrong," he wrote. Dartmouth's Office of Safety and Security, along with the Hanover police, is actively investigating the other racial incident but has not yet charged anyone, Adams said. In the second incident, the racial slur "chink" reappeared on the door of two other Asian students after it had been washed off the night before. The two incidents are not thought to be related, and Link is not considered a suspect in the second case, according to Adams.

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