Letter to the Editor

 e University of Wisconsin-La Crosse

has a plethora of multicultural and diversity

organizations that are run by students.  is

university is all about the acceptance of people

and building community for all. However,

UW-L is also the home of 37 hate incidents

this year. Campus Climate, a tremendous

resource we have on campus located at 1120

Centennial Hall, and the hate response team

have all of the reported incidents recorded

on the school website. I doubt many students

know that this information is so readily

available.

 e public should be immediately aware

of such hate crimes and incidents because

through education, we then learn to look

for and stop them from happening. We must

confront the problem in order to stop it.

As members of the student body, Residents

Life, and campus diversity organizations, we

should hold these issues high on our priority

list because it a ects all of us as a community.

Whether it is racial slurs written on desks or

similar remarks we hear at lunch, when we

can identify such things, we can then take the

initiative to stand up and say something.

We must begin to learn from our mistakes

and educate one another. Last semester,

there was a hate incident in Eagle Hall that

was followed by limited action outside of

protocol, meaning the incident was reported,

but not much was done to inform the public.

Since then, there has been immediate action

by campus police and multicultural and

diversity organizations to put a stop to hate

incidents. When we are knowledgeable of

hate, we as people engage in an intrapersonal

change. Once we are conscious of hate, we

will communicate as a people, reach out and

change our own actions, and build upon our

community for the better.