Hate Crime Hoax At Claremont Colleges

Long-time readers will recall a series of posts here about the Daisy Lundy alleged hate crime at the University of Virginia. (Too many posts to cite. To find them just search for Daisy in the “search the site” box to the right.) Ms. Lundy, for those of you were not here then, is a UVa undergrad who was running for president of the student council last year, and seemed about to lose. She claimed that she had been attacked early one morning, both physically and with racist verbal abuse. The university community convulsed, a large reward was offered, committees were set up, new programs were instituted, vigils were held, hands were wrung. Ms. Lundy won the election after her opponent withdrew, and nothing has been heard of the incident since.

For the past several weeks the Claremont Colleges in California have been experiencing a hate crime convulsion that was set off by what appear to have been real incidents. A Message from President Steadman Upham of the Claremont Graduate University provides some of the background of the series of events.

The series started with the theft of a cross from the Pomona College art gallery by undergraduate students from three of the colleges. The cross was taken to the Harvey Mudd campus and set ablaze.

The cross burning is a deep affront to our minority students and faculty, and to everyone associated with the colleges. Ironically and sadly, the students – athletes on campus before the return of students for the spring term – say they did not fully realize the symbolism of the event. A judicial conduct board is currently hearing their case, and the students face a variety of sanctions, including expulsion.

In the weeks that followed, African-American posters have been defaced at Claremont McKenna College and Scripps. There have also been threats made to gay and lesbian students, again, at the undergraduate colleges. These senseless acts violate the very principles that guarantee the free flow of ideas in an academic community.

Then matters escalated. As Claremont McKenna College President Pamela Gann explained in a letter to CMC alumni on March 10:

Last evening, after the most recent community forum at CMC’s Athenaeum, an absolutely shocking and unconscionable act was perpetrated against a CMC faculty member who has spoken out on these issues. In particular, the faculty member’s car was vandalized on campus. The windows were broken, the tires were slashed, and the body of the vehicle was spray painted with various racial, religious, and gender-based epithets.

The Claremont Police responded and classified this incident as a hate crime. The Claremont Police will pursue a serious investigation of this crime, and if any alleged perpetrators are arrested, they will pursue the ultimate penalties under law. I have also asked every single member of this community and of The Claremont Colleges to help us solve this crime and to cooperate with the police investigation. I announced to our students Tuesday evening that CMC will offer a $10,000 reward to anyone who comes forward with information leading to the solving of this crime.

A hate crime such as this one is the greatest imaginable affront to everything that we stand for at CMC. Our community and our ability to have discourse have been directly and violently attacked by conduct and speech in an unconscionable act that was specifically targeted against a faculty member. We cannot possibly carry on as a teaching and learning community if persons physically threaten property and person in a way that leaves no doubt that it was in response to speech. We remain committed to maintaining a college community that has zero tolerance for these types of incidents.

Students and others responded spontaneously and forcefully last evening. They justifiably want Wednesday to be a day to gather to respond to this event and earlier events at The Claremont Colleges. The students have organized numerous events throughout the day on Wednesday, including a sit-in on the North Quandrangle, and a 5-College rally on the CMC campus at 8:00 PM Wednesday night.

In light of these events, I have also directed that CMC cancel classes today, and the other Claremont Colleges have also cancelled classes. One never lightly cancels classes, for to do so in some way suggests that we can be bullied by the perpetrators of such a heinous crime. Yet, we need every single person in this community to come together, to follow his or her conscience, and to start a process of regaining control of our community. In this way, we can hope to tell the perpetrators that they will in the end be defeated and repudiated.

As President Gunn’s letter indicated, the Claremont colleges mobilized quickly. Also on March 10 the Senates of the Claremont Colleges and the Rally Organizing Committee distributed the following partial schedule of anti-hate activities:

Apathy towards hatred is not acceptable in any situation, but a passive response to the recent events in Claremont is no longer acceptable either. It is time for every member of the Claremont Colleges community to act to reclaim our campuses.

It is unacceptable that our peers feel unsafe at our Colleges. It is intolerable that individuals among us feel justified in a violent expression of hate. We must not allow these events to sabotage our community or to dominate our lives.

The events scheduled today are not only a response to the recent hateful vandalism in Claremont, but a concerted effort to reclaim our community. The course we are on is being perilously steered by a tiny minority who would have us fearful and divided. We as a community must come together and reverse that course, pointing it in a direction of tolerance for everyone that comprises the Claremont Colleges.

The schedule of events for reclaiming our campuses is as follows (please note that due to the short notice some events may change — check your email for updates):

8:00 am &ndash 12:00 pm: Individual Campus responses. Pomona will show a video of the vandalized vehicle at Marston Quad and have both written and verbal forums for student responses.

10:00 am: Office of Black Student Affairs Press Conference, to be held at the OBSA Office, 139 East Seventh Street.

11:00 am: Lunch at Collins Dining Hall, CMC, hosted by OBSA.

12:00 pm: Sit-in Show of Solidarity in the center of North Quad at CMC.

OBSA requests that you wear black for this event in order to show community solidarity.

7:15 pm: Community Members not already participating in events at CMC should convene as individual college communities at the following meeting places:

Harvey Mudd — Lawn in front of the Linde Activities Center.

Pitzer — The Mounds.

Pomona — Marston Quadrangle.

Scripps — Turf in front of Malott Commons and Balch Auditorium.

7:30 pm: Assembled College Communities will begin to walk towards Parents Field in the Center of the Claremont McKenna campus.

8:00 &ndash 8:30 pm: Five College Community Rally at Parents Field, CMC.

There will be a brief introduction, a keynote speaker, and a three minute speech from a member of each of the five college communities. Speakers will be announced as they are confirmed.

8:30 pm or End of Rally: Community members will be encouraged to proceed to a multitude of forums, discussions, and reflection sessions around campus. More information will follow regarding meeting places as they are confirmed.

College communities seem to have an unmatched ability to work themselves up into a frenzy of self-flagellation over incidents of hate, even though the hateful acts themselves are isolated incidents of a few individuals, or less. (Here, according to President Upham’s letter cited above, the students who stole and burned the cross were athletes who “say they did not fully realize the symbolism of the event.”). In a move that has now become predictable in such situations, the Claremont Graduate University Board of Trustees moved quickly “to create the Permanent Group on Tolerance, Fairness, and Diversity composed of trustees from every working committee of the board.”

At the Board meeting that created this group one of the trustees spoke in a manner that, in other circumstances, would have been described as, well, corny. As described in a statement by CGU President Upham:

Trustee Matthew Jenkins, an African-American who has experienced the sting of racial intolerance throughout his life, spoke eloquently and forcefully in board committee meetings and in front of the full board about racism and its origins. Using a powerful reverse metaphor, he said that if corn is planted on the sidewalk, it will not grow no matter how much it is fertilized and watered. But if corn is planted in a fertile field, it will sprout and flourish. He then compared the environment of the Claremont Colleges to the fertile field. He said bluntly that racist and anti-Semitic acts would not have happened unless the environment at the Claremont Colleges provided nourishment for them to exist.

Dr. Jenkins is right. Incidents of intolerance have occurred because we have allowed the conditions that sustain racism and anti-Semitism to exist. Eradicating these conditions must become a priority of everyone associated with CGU and the other Claremont Colleges. This is not a job for someone else to do. Rather, each one of us needs to examine our own actions, fears, and motivations in light of this recognition.

Up to this point the trajectory of moralistic self-abasement (the guiltier you say you are, the more moral you prove yourself to be) was very similar to the course of events last year at UVa. But what appears to be the conclusion is very different. Or is it? Consider this last letter that President Upham distributed to all CGU students today (March 17) (sent to me by a CGU student) and posted on the CGU web site. Here are the first two paragraphs:

Update on Hate Crime from President Upham:

Dear Colleagues:

Today the Claremont Police Department issued a news release concerning progress toward solving the recent crime involving a visiting professor at Claremont McKenna College-a crime of vandalism and theft that was deemed a hate crime. I wrote to you regarding this situation last week. In its news release, the Claremont Police Department reported that:

The Claremont Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have completed their investigation into the alleged hate crime on the Claremont McKenna College campus. During the course of the investigation, two eye witnesses came forward who positively identified the victim as vandalizing her own vehicle. Additionally, interviews with the alleged victim revealed inconsistencies in her statements regarding the incident.

You might think that at this point it would be in order to heave a presidential sigh of relief that the Claremont Colleges are not such a fertile breeding ground for racism, anti-Semitism, and intolerance after all. Moreover, it might occur to you that a thoughtful president should observe that the real hate crime is the fraudulent accusation of hate crimes and call for campus-wide consideration and discussion of exactly why it was that the collection of colleges was so ready to implode in a paroxysm of racial guilt.

But if you thought that would be how a modern college president would respond to this shameful series of events, you’d of course be wrong. How President Upham did conclude this letter is as predictable as the series of events leading up to it:

Whatever the ultimate outcome, I remain heartened with the outpouring of support we saw last week on our campus and throughout the Claremont Colleges for the values of inclusiveness, tolerance, and diversity. As a university, we are committed to taking concrete steps to make CGU a place where all people feel welcome and included, regardless of their race, gender, culture, religion, sexual orientation, or nationality. I look forward to reporting to you on our progress. As always, I welcome your comments on how we can build a better community.

There is no word yet whether the hoaxing professor, Kerri F. Dunn, a visiting assistant professor of psychology, will be prosecuted. According to a recent story that recently ran on the AP wire,

Dunn could not immediately be reached for comment. She was not taken into police custody.

Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office, said she had no comment because prosecutors have not received the case.

UPDATE

I should have known: Erin O’Connor beat me to this one, as usual. See her post and her additional links.

UPDATE UPDATE

Today’s Los Angeles Times has an article today about the Claremont fake hate.

[Kerri Dunn] was not arrested, but Claremont Police Lt. Stan Van Horn said the case would be sent to the Los Angeles County district attorney for review and that the likely charge would be filing a false police report, a misdemeanor. The FBI said she might face more serious felony charges of lying to federal investigators.

…. The police contention that Dunn staged the incident triggered a wave of anger against her Wednesday and fears that students would become cynical about racism.

“This is like a very big deal if they think I’m a suspect,” Dunn said in the doorway of her Redlands home. “I didn’t want any of this from the beginning. This is so overshadowing the bigger problem on campus, which is that the administration has turned its head regularly on hate speech and hate crimes.”

Like a very big deal? Now why would she say that? True, there was no, like, actual hate crime, but think how much better everyone feels now that they’ve been given an opportunity to demonstrate how “inclusive” and “welcoming” they are.

Katherine Lind, chairwoman of the Claremont Committee on Human Relations, a city agency, said she was upset by the news but that her biggest concern was that students would be discouraged by the outcome of the investigation. “What they did — the rallies, the forums — was really inspiring,” she said. “Their passion was a lesson for us all.

“I urge the students to continue to articulate their problems and not let this incident dissuade them in any way,” Lind said.

Claremont McKenna College President Pamela Gann said that Dunn’s continued employment was under review “but that the college remained committed to ‘academic freedom and free speech.'” (Editorial addendum: So is Martha Stewart, but she’s about to go to jail for lying to federal investigators. Maybe she and Prof. Dunn could be cellmates.)

Call me paranoid, but I think there’s a double standard at work here. If I made all this stuff up, someone would surely accuse me of making it up — and be more upset at my prevarication than inspired by the Ultimate Truth of my cause.

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE (3/20/04)

Steve Sailer, who posted a comment here early this morning, does indeed have some fascinating material on his web site, especially some email correspondence with the presidents of two of the Claremont colleges. (Scroll down the right column.)

I think the email from Nancy Bekavac, president of Scripps College, is particularly interesting. She responded to Mr. Sailer as follows:

As to the matter of the professor’s allegedly false claim, I have always thought it better to respond sympathetically to a claim on my sense of justice than to reject out of hand a cry for help. If one does the former, surely one may be taken in; if one does the latter, one is condemned to cynicism. Our communities saw a car covered with hateful graffiti, with tires slashed and windows broken. The professor, a temporary employee, has apparently been an effective teacher at one of our sister schools. What kind of institution, what kind of students and faculty, would ignore that? And what kind of institution would immediately assume that the victim was lying? [I have corrected a few typos — jsr]

Although President Bekavac left herself open to Mr. Sailer’s reply —

No, it’s better to wait for the police to get the facts before you and your fellow administrators wasted about $1 million dollars of parents’ tuition by canceling classes for a day in order to unleash chanting mobs to further your political aims. I’m not a college administrator like you are, but even I knew that a high proportion of campus hate crime brouhahas grow out of hoaxes like this one

— I think the point she made here has some merit. But then she attached a copy of an email she sent out to the Scripps College community on March 17. Here are the relevant paragraphs:

Professor Dunn is entitled to the presumption of innocence. Nonetheless, news that the victim of an alleged hate crime on our campuses is now a suspect in that crime is shocking to all of us. While each of us is dealing with our emotions in our own way, we should also confront this recent news, as we confronted the vandalism, together. We will be setting a community meeting early next week, when all students are back on campus following spring break.

Above all, we must focus on this: even if the vandalized car and slogans were a hoax, our responses last week were right and appropriate — in our community meeting March 10 in Balch Auditorium and in our strong participation in the evening rally at CMC with all The Claremont Colleges.

However painful and confusing this latest development is, we cannot forget the reasons we were outraged in the first place; we cannot avoid the challenges that hatred poses to our community, to our country. We will continue to work to make our campuses welcoming, open, diverse, and productive so that all of us can freely teach and learn to the best of our abilities.

Although the sentiments expressed here are not entirely without merit (indeed, they are not that dissimilar to Kaimi Wenger’s views, with which I respectfully disagreed here), I find this argument considerably more problematical. Perhaps I’m overreacting to it, but it reminds me of the style of argument employed by Joe McCarthy’s defenders — well, at least his heart was in the right place, and the American people knew where he stood — and the defenders of 1992 Nobel Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu after it was revealed that her allegedly non-fiction book actually contained large doses of fiction. (Her inventions were first revealed here.)

As John Leo observed in a widely read article several years ago on hate crime hoaxes,

when Rigoberta Menchu’s famous account of class and ethnic warfare in Guatemala was revealed to be largely false, many professors said this didn’t matter much because her book contained emotional truth. The blurring of the line between fact and fiction is far advanced in our university culture. Hoaxes are just one symptom of the truth problem.

Statements like President Bekavac’s do serve to soothe her audience by reaffirming the “emotional truth” they all share (as well as their own goodness for sharing it), but in skipping so lightly over the abuse of trust and the corrosive effects of manufacturing false claims of racism, as well as the relegation of the small matter of factual accuracy to the bottom of the list of concerns, if it even makes the list, this sort of smarmy response also does that audience a substantial disservice.

UPDATE 4

The Los Angeles Times reports today that Prof. Kerri Dunn, who denies that she vandalized her own car, has been put on paid leave pending the outcome of an investigation being conducted by Claremont McKenna College. Her one year visiting contract expires in June.

Her lawyer, Gary Lincenberg, said, “Hopefully, putting professor Dunn on paid leave will give the authorities time to find the criminals who vandalized her car.”

Pamela Gann, president of CMC, said in an interview with the LAT that the wishes of students had not been considered. “I haven’t heard from students one way or the other, whether they want her back,” Gann said.

Say What? (62)

  1. Nels Nelson March 18, 2004 at 12:12 am | | Reply

    John, I haven’t been reading your (always interesting) blog for long, but as soon as I reached the point in the story where Professor Dunn’s car was vandalized, I knew either she or someone sympathetic to her had been the perpetrator. If not, why would you have written about it?

    You might want to toss in the occasional red herring about frenzied College Republicans hurling epithets and beer bottles at campus administrators, just to keep us on our toes. :)

  2. John Rosenberg March 18, 2004 at 12:16 am | | Reply

    Nels, Fair point. My reading or my sources, or both, must be becoming too narrow, since I missed the frenzied college Republicans throwing beer bottles at administrators. Shoot me those when you see them. I like to think I’m unsympathetic to the frenzied of all persuasions.

  3. Gabriel Rossman March 18, 2004 at 7:49 am | | Reply

    In my selective perception it seems that with the exception of fraternity “ghetto” parties and other acts of hate speech that are grossly insensitive but harm nobody’s physical person nor property, a very high proportion of contemporary campus racial incidents are fake. So my question is, does anyone know of any verified hate crimes involving physical violence or vandalism on a campus? Does anyone know the ratio of fake to true serious campus hate crime accusations? How many convictions have been made in the last 5 or 10 years for this sort of thing? These aren’t rhetorical questions, I’m genuinely curious since faking a crime to create sympathy for a political cause is rather bizarre behavior, though obviously not without historical precedent (eg. the Reichstag fire).

  4. nobody important March 18, 2004 at 8:33 am | | Reply

    Is Kerri Dunn going to receive “the ultimate penalties under law?”

  5. Stephen March 18, 2004 at 9:53 am | | Reply

    Nels Nelson’s reply seem to be that this incident is an aberration. Perhaps it is.

    In the leftist communities in which I’ve lived (New York City, San Francisco, Woodstock, NY), the great bigot hunt has become a mental illness. When you think about it as a mental illness, you will understand why the left so bitterly hates Prez Bush, and why it so insistently caricatures him as a racist buffoon.

    The great bigot hunt has several purposes, the most important of which are to (1) allow the bigot hunter to believe that he/she is morally superior to everybody else, and (2) supply the bigot hunter with a reason why he/she is failing in life. The place where the bigot hunter is most likely to be failing in life is in the arenas of love and sex. Note how obsessed the left is with how legal issues influence sexuality. This is an admission that love and sex are failing in leftist communities. If love and sex were not failing, why would government intervention and legal wrangling be the answer?

    In the liberal communities, you hear this almost every day. I’ve paraphrased the illness into a single sentence: “If it weren’t for that dastardly Bush, I’d have a great sex and love life.” You may think I’m kidding, but this is precisely the argument. The reason the hatred for Bush is so fierce is because the left is blaming him for the failure of love and sex in the leftist communities.

    The mental illness behind this is intensifying. It is a very frightening manifestation, indeed, and I am very fearful of where it is leading.

  6. Fake Hate Crimes have Happened at Other Colleges in Past

    Kerri Dunn, who I am assuming faked the hate crime is not the first person to try commit a hate crime in the hopes of bringing change to a community. This has happened at Duke University, Eastern New Mexico University,

  7. Joe Peden March 18, 2004 at 3:44 pm | | Reply

    Cry “Rape”. Stephan, you speak well. You should trademark “The Great Bigot Hunt”. That was good.

  8. Joe Peden March 18, 2004 at 3:48 pm | | Reply

    Stephen.

  9. bonehead March 18, 2004 at 4:47 pm | | Reply

    Hey Nels,

    Are those the same College Republicans who went rampaging down Fairfax Avenue staging a massive pogrom in which thousands of Jews were beaten to death in the wake of The Passion? Oh, wait…that one only happened in your head too…sorry for the confusion…

  10. Nels Nelson March 18, 2004 at 5:39 pm | | Reply

    Um, bonehead (to clarify, I use that as your self-imposed nick and not my judgment of you), I was joking.

    And as it seems to me John is always careful to point out, this isn’t so much about the actions of individuals, as there will always be extremists who disrupt petition-signing or burn crosses, but rather the responses of administrators and government officials to those actions.

  11. Robin Munn March 18, 2004 at 6:30 pm | | Reply

    Yes, but the pressing question is, will those witnesses be able to claim the $10,000 reward?

    Pamela Gunn’s letter says:

    I announced to our students Tuesday evening that CMC will offer a $10,000 reward to anyone who comes forward with information leading to the solving of this crime.

    I don’t know about you, but I would call figuring out who did it “solving the crime”. Therefore, the two eyewitnesses clearly “came forward with information leading to the solving of this crime”. Will they get the promised $10,000 reward?

    Call me cynical, but I doubt it.

  12. Nels Nelson March 18, 2004 at 6:48 pm | | Reply

    Gabriel, a good start is perhaps the FBI Hate Crime Statistics for 2002, which includes a “school/college” category (I assume this includes K-12 schools) and tracks individual statistics for a number of colleges and universities. These are “incidents,” not convictions or even cases in which charges were brought, though to qualify as an incident a “law enforcement investigation…must reveal sufficient evidence to lead a reasonable and prudent person to conclude that the offender’s actions were motivated, in whole or in part, by his or her bias.”

    The FBI reported 789 hate crime incidents on school/college property in 2002, with more than half of those racially motivated. From skimming through the data for colleges and universities, I saw a few, all of them larger schools, which reported 5-7 hate crimes, but 1 or 2 hate crimes for the year seemed about average.

  13. Lloyd Albano March 18, 2004 at 7:38 pm | | Reply

    As a past president of The Claremont College Republicans, (class of ’82) I can assure you that we never participated in beerbottling any administrators. A little background on this whole incident is in order though. McKenna College (formerly Claremont Men’s College) has, ironically, had the reputation of being filled with conservatives, both in the student body and its faculty. The truth is, at least while I was there, was that the political mix roughly mirrored society at large, tho that made it seem unfashionably rightwing compared to other similar small liberal arts colleges, namely neighboring Pomona College, and the vastly inferior radical left Pitzer College. The current president, Ms Gunn, a Democrat, was brought in several years ago to show the world we weren’t quite the neanderthals some feared us to be. Now, I can’t quite figure whether to be more embarassed or pleased over this whole affair. Funny and sadly predictable regardless. I’ve seen some calls for president Gunn’s resignation, but I’m almost hoping she’ll stay on as a kind of permanent, neutered, laughing stock of liberal PCism.

  14. Gyp March 18, 2004 at 10:18 pm | | Reply

    They aren’t going to tolerate the hate crimes? How intolerant of them!

  15. junior at CMC March 19, 2004 at 10:35 am | | Reply

    Pres. Gann has always been a left-wing nut (excuse the expression), who is not interested in protecting the student body or faculty. She is only concerned with how things will be interpreted. For instance, last year a student was found to have been stealing projectors from the classrooms and after being kicked out of school by the board, Mrs. Gann reinstated this thief without giving any reason whatsoever. Call me crazy, but this woman does not care about the interest of the students only with the washy feely freedom of expression. BS.

  16. La Voz de Aztlan March 19, 2004 at 12:55 pm | | Reply

    “Converted to Judaism” : Lesbian professor stages

    phoney hate crime at Claremont Colleges

    by

    Ernesto Cienfuegos

    La Voz de Aztlan

    [Image] Los Angeles, Alta California – March 18, 2004

    – (ACN) The Claremont Colleges, about 30 miles east of

    downtown Los Angeles, are a prestigious consortium of

    five private colleges that includes Claremont-McKenna

    College, Harvey Mudd College, Pitzer College, Pomona

    College and Scripps College. The adjoining five

    campuses, spread amid serene residential neighborhoods,

    have been very peaceful over the years . . . that is

    until last March 9th when, what was reported as, a

    “vicious hate crime” and “the worst incident of hate

    in recent history at the Claremont Colleges” occurred.

    The purported “hate crime” made front page news here

    in the Los Angeles area and in addition was reported

    by major national news media networks. All five

    colleges were closed on the following day, March 10,

    by the respective college administrations in order to

    stage rallies and meetings against hate and to show

    support for the purported victim, a lesbian and

    Claremont-McKenna professor of social psychology Kerri

    Dunn. Professor Kerri Dunn, a former Catholic, has

    recently converted to Judaism.

    [Image] According to Professor Dunn, she was returning

    to her car after speaking at a free-speech rally

    around 8 p.m. on March 9 when she noticed that her

    front window was shattered, the tires slashed, and the

    body of her vehicle covered with spray-painted racial

    epithets. The words “kike whore,” “nigger lover,” ”

    shut up,” and “bitch” were painted in large, black

    letters on both sides of the car, as well as on the

    roof and hood and what appeared to be an unfinished

    “swastika” was also visible.

    “When I first approached the car I didn’t know what

    was really happening. I didn’t recognize the extent of

    the attack for quite awhile,” said Professor Kerri

    Dunn. “When I started looking at the car and started

    seeing the words, that’s when it kind of sunk in. I

    guess I kind of just was numb,” she added.

    The incident brought out extremely strong reactions by

    Hillel and a host of homosexual and lesbian groups on

    campus and by gay administrators and faculty. Hillel

    representative D’ror Chankin-Gould said the attack

    came as no surprise. He linked the incident to growing

    anti-Semitism worldwide. “We are here to say that we

    are scared,” said Chankin-Gould. “Swastikas and broken

    glass trigger potent memories for Jews.”

    Today, the Claremont Police Department as well as the

    Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are reporting

    that the so call “hate crime” was actually a “hoax”

    perpetrated by Professor Kerri Dunn herself. Two

    independent witnesses came forward declaring that they

    saw Professor Dunn commit the vandalism on her own car.

    Now, it appears that Professor Dunn has a significant

    “rap sheet” for prior crimes. While living in Lincoln,

    Nebraska, the professor accumulated arrests for

    shoplifting, possessing stolen property, refusing to

    comply with a police officer’s orders, driving on a

    suspended license, failing to appear in court and

    other crimes.

    Does this modus operandi by Jews, converted or born

    into Judaism, sound familiar? “These were terrorists,”

    Professor Dunn said of those responsible. Do we all

    remember the two Israeli MOSSAD agents that were

    arrested inside the Mexican Congress with explosives

    on October 10, 2001?

    There is a major lesson here to be learned by the

    “embarrassed” and “red faced” students at the

    Claremont Colleges. Not all is what it first appears

    to be. This is true at your local campuses as well as

    across the nation and in the world stage. Just look at

    the way president Bush justified attacking Iraq. Do

    you still believe that we are in Iraq to “liberate the

    people”? Ask yourself, why were USA troops not

    received by Iraqis offering “flowers” as we were made

    to believe? Instead, our troops are being given

    “exploding grenades” on a daily basis!

    [Image]

    * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

    La Voz de Aztlan

    http://www.aztlan.net/claremont_fake_hate_crime.htm

  17. Kaimi March 19, 2004 at 1:40 pm | | Reply

    John,

    I’ve posted a few comments about this over at Tutissima, which you might find interesting. In general, I think it’s important not to overreact, and not to roll back any positive reforms that were made. For the detailed comments, see http://www.tutissima.com/archives/000573.html .

    Kaimi Wenger

  18. Tutissima Cassis March 19, 2004 at 2:01 pm | | Reply

    Responses to Hate-Crime Fraud

    Some recent, interesting comments in the blogosphere have discussed the apparent hoax of a hate crime at the Claremont colleges in California. Commenters include David Bernstein and John Rosenberg. Implicit in Rosenberg’s critique (and, I believe, in B…

  19. ronbo March 19, 2004 at 3:06 pm | | Reply

    Hah! The truth comes out – Ms. Dunn’s fake hate crime was part of the vast Jewish conspiracy. Even if she had to convert!

    I hadn’t seen the Aztlan site before; it’s nice to know that the Middle East and Europe don’t have a monopoly on antisemitism.

    Well, it’s Friday afternoon. Time to kick back and drink some Christian baby’s blood. Skoal!

  20. Laura March 19, 2004 at 7:01 pm | | Reply

    It would not be surprising if this report of antisemitic vandalism frightened Jews in the community. One more reason why the hoax was so despicable.

    (The troops were offered flowers. I’ve seen some very nice pictures. Had one as wallpaper for a while. I’ll email it to anyone who wants to see it.)

  21. Infinite Monkeys March 19, 2004 at 9:08 pm | | Reply

    Truth and Consequences in Claremont

    The horrors of racism in America, if not well known, are at least documented well enough for there to be no excuse for not knowing. We’ve come a long way since 1900. We’ve come a long way since 1965, for…

  22. Steve Sailer March 20, 2004 at 1:21 am | | Reply

    At http://www.iSteve.com, I’ve posted a long series of updates on the Reichstag Fire incident at Claremont, including amusing email discussions with presidents of two of the Claremont colleges and links to many other hate crime hoaxes in the past.

    By the way, I estimate that cancelling classes one day for 5,500 students cost close to $1,000,000 in tuition, room, and board. Do you think the university will refund that to parents?

  23. Mike W March 20, 2004 at 3:40 pm | | Reply

    Steve Sailer,

    Good point about the cost to students of the lost class days. I think fairness dictates universities must compensate students for time lost to such foolishness, and a lawsuit to recover the estimated $1 million seems justified.

  24. Gabriel Rossman March 20, 2004 at 6:09 pm | | Reply

    Mike and Steve S.,

    I actually disagree about a refund or lawsuit. I think the students probably learned more than they would have had they gone to class, specifically about the nature of hysteria and skepticism about the claims of their faculty and administrators.

  25. CMC senior March 20, 2004 at 9:19 pm | | Reply

    although i think it’s perfectly possible for people to get president gann’s name wrong, i’ll have to take lloyd albano’s comments with a grain of salt considering he didn’t spell it right either.

    i also don’t know where someone would get the impression that the students are embarassed or red-faced…considering all the students have been on spring break this past week. if they’re red-faced, it’s probably because they’re sunburned or drunk. @_@

    one more thing~ i don’t think dunn is lesbian. i’m fairly sure that would have come out during the hullaballoo two weeks ago if it were true. this is also the first i’ve heard of her having a rap sheet.

    if dunn did vandalize her own car – by the way no one’s seen the police report yet – she succeeded in doing what the students couldn’t do on their own…drawing the administration’s attention to the fact that the claremont colleges allows not just discrimination and acts of intolerance, but violence in general to occur on its campuses.

    yes, there are huge issues of racism and discrimination. but the problems that are nearest and dearest to my heart have nothing to do with institutional racism or whatnot. to me, this is about violence on our campus. it’s about the administration’s inability to efficiently counteract and prevent violence, and our educational institution’s inability to teach its students that this kind of behavior is not acceptable in our community.

    firstly, the schools provide absolutely no deterrence whatsoever for crimes. i don’t know how the students who burned the cross could have missed BOTH the KKK symbolism of the cross and the religious symbolism. you’d figure if they missed one they’d catch the other. but they were given a slap on the wrist. students know they can get away with writing “NIGGER” on a picture of george washington carver hanging in a dorm, because even if they were caught they’d just have to write an essay or pick up trash.

    secondly, the campus has horrible campus safety. we’ve had a record number of assaults and near-assaults on females in the past year…campus safety runs up panting thirty minutes after the assailant has run away. you can try checking the numbers, but they stopped posting the monthly & annual safety reports on their website after 2002.

    a prime example of their inefficiency is the fact that someone could bash in all the windows of a car, slash the tires, and spray-paint it without a single campus safety officer responding to the noise. and they want you to blow a stinkin’ whistle if someone tries to attack you…grrreeaatt..

    regardless of whether dunn is guilty or innocent, these problems exist and nobody was paying attention to the small group of people who felt genuinely threatened living on these campuses. i don’t think the commotion was a waste of time. (which doesn’t mean i condone a hoax. i just have yet to be convinced that it was a hoax)

    most people don’t know that the students themselves forced the administration to close campuses. a large group of students corralled president gann and spent several hours clamoring and pressuring her and her staff to close the campus down. the same was done at pomona and scripps.

    the idea of refunding class money is ridiculous because most students ditch classes every now and then, and we certainly don’t ask for a check compensating us for the classes we sleep through.

    it’s a complicated issue and i greatly admire this website’s coverage of it. just wanted to get my two pennies in.

  26. CMC senior March 20, 2004 at 9:19 pm | | Reply

    although i think it’s perfectly possible for people to get president gann’s name wrong, i’ll have to take lloyd albano’s comments with a grain of salt considering he didn’t spell it right either.

    i also don’t know where someone would get the impression that the students are embarassed or red-faced…considering all the students have been on spring break this past week. if they’re red-faced, it’s probably because they’re sunburned or drunk. @_@

    one more thing~ i don’t think dunn is lesbian. i’m fairly sure that would have come out during the hullaballoo two weeks ago if it were true. this is also the first i’ve heard of her having a rap sheet.

    if dunn did vandalize her own car – by the way no one’s seen the police report yet – she succeeded in doing what the students couldn’t do on their own…drawing the administration’s attention to the fact that the claremont colleges allows not just discrimination and acts of intolerance, but violence in general to occur on its campuses.

    yes, there are huge issues of racism and discrimination. but the problems that are nearest and dearest to my heart have nothing to do with institutional racism or whatnot. to me, this is about violence on our campus. it’s about the administration’s inability to efficiently counteract and prevent violence, and our educational institution’s inability to teach its students that this kind of behavior is not acceptable in our community.

    firstly, the schools provide absolutely no deterrence whatsoever for crimes. i don’t know how the students who burned the cross could have missed BOTH the KKK symbolism of the cross and the religious symbolism. you’d figure if they missed one they’d catch the other. but they were given a slap on the wrist. students know they can get away with writing “NIGGER” on a picture of george washington carver hanging in a dorm, because even if they were caught they’d just have to write an essay or pick up trash.

    secondly, the campus has horrible campus safety. we’ve had a record number of assaults and near-assaults on females in the past year…campus safety runs up panting thirty minutes after the assailant has run away. you can try checking the numbers, but they stopped posting the monthly & annual safety reports on their website after 2002.

    a prime example of their inefficiency is the fact that someone could bash in all the windows of a car, slash the tires, and spray-paint it without a single campus safety officer responding to the noise. and they want you to blow a stinkin’ whistle if someone tries to attack you…grrreeaatt..

    regardless of whether dunn is guilty or innocent, these problems exist and nobody was paying attention to the small group of people who felt genuinely threatened living on these campuses. i don’t think the commotion was a waste of time. (which doesn’t mean i condone a hoax. i just have yet to be convinced that it was a hoax)

    most people don’t know that the students themselves forced the administration to close campuses. a large group of students corralled president gann and spent several hours clamoring and pressuring her and her staff to close the campus down. the same was done at pomona and scripps.

    the idea of refunding class money is ridiculous because most students ditch classes every now and then, and we certainly don’t ask for a check compensating us for the classes we sleep through.

    it’s a complicated issue and i greatly admire this website’s coverage of it. just wanted to get my two pennies in.

  27. Michelle Dulak March 21, 2004 at 12:54 am | | Reply

    CMC Senior, if you’re going to do spelling flames, it behooves you not to misspell “embarrassed” one sentence further on. Sheesh. Also, double-posting is not recommended, and capitalizing occasional words (you know, at the beginning of a sentence, that sort of thing) is always a good idea, especially as you’re a senior at an elite private college, and you know as well as I do that the people vetting your applications for grad school or for jobs are going to Google you.

    by the way no one’s seen the police report yet

    Nope, they haven’t. But the classes at five colleges were apparently canceled and a large array of panels, activities, &c. set up before anyone had seen the police report either. Rather a lot earlier, if it comes to that.

  28. Gabriel Rossman March 21, 2004 at 7:53 am | | Reply

    Regardless of nitpicky spelling claims and counter-claims, CMC Senior has an interesting point — that the Claremont colleges have lax public safety in general. I think it shows the extent to which college administrators have become obsessed with diversity that they do not see a problem as worth addressing until it acquires a diversity angle. Cohen and March’s “garbage can” model of organizational behavior seems to fit the situation pretty well. Hopefully the Claremont colleges will solve the crime (hate and otherwise) problem by such things as hiring more and better trained public safety officers, giving them suitable vehicles, and lighting the campus better (when I last visited ten years ago it was very dark).

  29. askin'athabascan March 21, 2004 at 10:16 am | | Reply

    Like an indulgent parent who rationalizes child bad behavior (“at least he didn’t kill anyone…”), mizz dunn will no doubt find comfort from mother left, and turn this lemon into lemonade.

    Dinesh was right after all.

  30. stoppin'by March 21, 2004 at 1:53 pm | | Reply

    You know, I for one still believe in innocent until proven guilty. And come on, who’d be stupid enough to vandalize their car when there’s people who can clearly tell who you are? So the witnesses were probably at least a decent distance away, meaning that it’s probably not that easy to make a bulletproof ID. Furthermore, what if the witnesses are in fact sympathetic towards the actual perpetrators or just got a D from the professor or something?

    There’s too many variables and factors to consider here, so before everybody goes and just assumes the professor is guilty just because the police assert that she is, I think we should simply assume she is innocent like the law states she is. The police aren’t always right, they don’t always catch the correct person. There’s been time and time again where people have been set free after serving years in jail because finally DNA evidence proved that they were in fact innocent, and let’s not even talk about the release by the governor of illinois of all the prisoners who, upon closer research, turned out to not at all be the people who committed the crimes that landed them on death row.

    So I figure if the police can botch a murder investigation so badly, I’m not going to just assume that because the professor is a SUSPECT in this case, that she’s automatically guilty.

    If you were the professor and you really didn’t vandalize your own car, and someone else really did, but the cops claimed you had vandalized it yourself, would you appreciate everybody just believing the cops and calling you a filthy liar? Come on, let’s give her SOME leeway here. If she lied then it’s crappy, but if she didn’t what you’re doing by assuming that she’s guilty is just as bad.

  31. Gabriel Rossman March 21, 2004 at 2:56 pm | | Reply

    Governor Ryan is a better example than you realize. A few Illinois prisoners were indeed exonerated by forensic or other evidence, but Ryan (who wanted elites to remember him for his enlightenment not his corruption) commuted the sentences of every man on death row, including many men about whose guilt there is no doubt whatsoever. The moral of the story is that while the police are demonstrably not infallible, it is rather childish to take this as evidence that one ought not take their conclusions as a pretty good approximation of the truth, even if not an absolute certainty. Sure, it is concievable that Professor Dunn got a bad rap, but to treat this as an operant assumption until she is convicted of filing a false police report (and probably not even then) is just silly.

  32. Michelle Dulak March 21, 2004 at 3:37 pm | | Reply

    stoppin’by, the witnesses (according to one news report anyway; go to Erin O’Connor’s post and follow the links) weren’t students, and furthermore they presented themselves the day after the incident, so either the police were sitting on their evidence until the protests were safely over, or they were checking the stories, or both.

    In any case, “innocent until proven guilty” does cut both ways, yes? The immediate assumption on the discovery of the vandalism was that some bigoted college student had done it. Therefore the entire population of all five Claremont colleges had to be treated to a day’s worth of sensitivity training. There was essentially no evidence that a student was responsible; certainly less evidence than there now is that Dunn was responsible. Yet students who were presumably on campus in the first place to, well, study, were denied their classes because they were all potential perps. Think about it.

  33. bonehead March 21, 2004 at 4:04 pm | | Reply

    Today’s (3/21) LA Times reports that the campus made the decision (yesterday, on a Saturday) to quietly suspend Prof. Dunn, and that the decision was “negotiated” with her. Most likely, Prof. Dunn’s lawyer will work out a settlement with the campus in which Dunn resigns “to prevent further controversy and disruption”, the campus agrees not to file any charges, and Dunn gets to walk away without anyone being able to accuse her in the future of perpetrating a hoax, and to threaten a lawsuit against anyone who implies or alludes to such a thing.

    It certainly appears that everyone involved is indeed working to spin this in such a way as to make emotional truth more important than factual truth.

  34. Priorities & Frivolities March 21, 2004 at 5:00 pm | | Reply

    An Alumnus Responds

    Several readers have asked for my comments on the alleged hate-crime hoax at my alma mater, Claremont McKenna College. In all honesty, because I’ve been scurrying around Cambridge, I’ve given it very little thought, and I doubt that I’ll have…

  35. Priorities & Frivolities March 21, 2004 at 5:00 pm | | Reply

    An Alumnus Responds

    Several readers have asked for my comments on the alleged hate-crime hoax at my alma mater, Claremont McKenna College. In all honesty, because I’ve been scurrying around Cambridge, I’ve given it very little thought, and I doubt that I’ll have…

  36. CMC senior March 21, 2004 at 5:00 pm | | Reply

    i’m very sorry for double posting. i didn’t realize i had.

    President Gann’s Statement, March 20th.

    March 20, 2004

    To the CMC Community from President Pamela Gann:

    As I communicated earlier this week, the Claremont Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have completed their investigation into the alleged vandalism of CMC Professor Kerri Dunn’s car on March 9, 2004. The press release issued by the Claremont Police Department stated that the police and the FBI have concluded that Professor Dunn vandalized her own car, and that they have reported these findings to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. Professor Dunn has, however, continued to deny any involvement in the alleged crime, and we should all respect her Constitutional rights to due process, including the presumption of innocence.

    Professor Dunn is currently employed at CMC pursuant to a one-year, visiting contract that is scheduled to end on June 30, 2004. Professor Dunn is now on a temporary, paid leave of absence while the College completes its own investigation and review of this matter. Such an investigation and review is important and necessary prior to taking any further personnel actions because Professor Dunn denies any involvement in this incident and the College is not aware of the full details of the police investigation. The College has also arranged for other faculty members to teach Professor Dunn’s courses for so long as necessary.

    While we await further details, the conclusion of law enforcement that an alleged hate crime may have in fact been a hoax is a shocking and disturbing surprise to our community. We are therefore working actively to address the wide range of emotions that all members of the College are understandably feeling in response to this news. With particular respect to our students, we are focused first and foremost on their safety and welfare. We will continue to maintain security and escort services at elevated levels for as long as necessary, and to make available a variety of formal and informal counseling opportunities. We will also continue to develop programming to ensure that all students feel welcome and safe to study at CMC, and are able to focus on their academic work in a positive and productive manner. Finally, we are also working with our faculty to schedule additional class time to compensate for the time lost on Wednesday, March 10.

    Just as our students, faculty, and staff may be experiencing a wide range of reactions to this news, I anticipate that other members of our community outside Claremont may also be experiencing a variety of reactions. I can only emphasize that, irrespective of whether the incident was real or a hoax, the tremendous response of our students and faculty in coming together on Wednesday, March 10 was very positive and should not be forgotten. Their actions exemplified the leadership skills and sense of civic responsibility that we seek to develop in our students, and highlighted CMC’s mission as a residential, liberal arts college in which we seek to ensure our students, faculty, and staff feel welcome and free to teach, study, and work at CMC to the best of their abilities.

  37. Priorities & Frivolities March 21, 2004 at 5:00 pm | | Reply

    An Alumnus Responds

    Several readers have asked for my comments on the alleged hate-crime hoax at my alma mater, Claremont McKenna College. In all honesty, because I’ve been scurrying around Cambridge, I’ve given it very little thought, and I doubt that I’ll have…

  38. Priorities & Frivolities March 21, 2004 at 5:00 pm | | Reply

    An Alumnus Responds

    Several readers have asked for my comments on the alleged hate-crime hoax at my alma mater, Claremont McKenna College. In all honesty, because I’ve been scurrying around Cambridge, I’ve given it very little thought, and I doubt that I’ll have…

  39. Priorities & Frivolities March 21, 2004 at 5:00 pm | | Reply

    An Alumnus Responds

    Several readers have asked for my comments on the alleged hate-crime hoax at my alma mater, Claremont McKenna College. In all honesty, because I’ve been scurrying around Cambridge, I’ve given it very little thought, and I doubt that I’ll have…

  40. Priorities & Frivolities March 21, 2004 at 5:00 pm | | Reply

    An Alumnus Responds

    Several readers have asked for my comments on the alleged hate-crime hoax at my alma mater, Claremont McKenna College. In all honesty, because I’ve been scurrying around Cambridge, I’ve given it very little thought, and I doubt that I’ll have…

  41. Anonymous March 21, 2004 at 10:31 pm | | Reply

    ‘Her lawyer, Gary Lincenberg, said, “Hopefully, putting professor Dunn on paid leave will give the authorities time to find the criminals who vandalized her car.”‘

    Hey, is O.J. still camping out on the golf course looking for “the real killer”? I smell a television series…!

  42. Curt Morgan March 22, 2004 at 12:55 am | | Reply

    One good thing may come out of the whole Dunn imbroglio: perhaps the blindly self-righteous among us will be less willing to jump on the barricade at every perceived “hate crime.” Decades of PC absurdities shoved down our throats have conditioned us to wildly (and comically) overreact with protest marches, candlelight vigils and lickspittle communal noodling everytime that ol’ phantom Bad Whitey comes a’nightridin’ through town. This pathetic, anachronistic nonsense accomplishes nothing and burns up energy that could be used working on real problems of society.

  43. Anonymous March 22, 2004 at 1:39 pm | | Reply

    Martha Stewart just got convicted for lying to Federal Agents. Kerri Dunn has apparently done the same, let her be tried in a court of law and if found guily, let her do time with Ms. Stewart. Enough of this farce.

  44. zzx375 March 22, 2004 at 1:56 pm | | Reply

    Innocent until proven guilty is extremely important. But as has been pointed out, the institution did not wait to get the facts before diving off of the deep end.

    The quickest way to improve campus safety is to publicize the lack of it to potential students. Mom and pop won’t anty up tuition, etc. when given that kind of info. Nothing gets an institution’s attention faster than a decline in enrollment.

    If the prof faked it, she needs to have the book thrown at her, regardless.

  45. don March 22, 2004 at 3:48 pm | | Reply

    A couple of comments:

    1. why isn’t there still consideration for pursuing this as a hate crime and NOT a “filing a false police report” misdemeanor? Weren’t the words just as injurious even though they weren’t written by “the enemy” (meaning a white, heterosexual male)? Doesn’t that make it a hate crime? Just because Prof. Dunn “qualifies” as a minority or two, aren’t the words and actions just as hateful and deserving of felony hate crime charges being filed against her?

    2. If the campus students at Claremont are scared by the actions that happened, what are are you going to think once Taliban here? And, you KNOW that Taliban comin’!!!

  46. Nels Nelson March 22, 2004 at 4:32 pm | | Reply

    Don, I may be mistaken on this, but I believe a hate crime has to be attached to a traditional crime, and I’d be surprised if vandalizing one’s own car was a crime. Hate crime without an accompanying crime is simply “hate speech,” which is protected by law (though not necessarily by campus codes). This is the primary problem with the whole concept of hate crimes: they’re simply backdoor methods of punishing thought and speech.

  47. don March 23, 2004 at 10:33 am | | Reply

    Nels–

    Yes, I agree with you on the “hate crimes” issue. However, I think it is finally time to deliver “a taste” of the “hate crimes” menu. After all, when “traditional crime” was expanded to include a whole new class of crime called “hate crime,” there was no interpretation as well as no limitation for those who falsely perpetrate a “hate crime” for the purpose of gaining attention for whatever motivation.

    Thus, we now have a Professor, someone with a PhD. AND a university job, who is acting like a garden variety psychopath, who has fired up an entire campus and who knows how much of the surrounding communities to near fever pitch or fever pitch. And, it’s all over a hoax she perpetrated. I think there is a clear lesson to be learned, here, and not just by the professor. She is just as responsible for perpetrating a hate crime as she was in accusing “someone or someones” out there of perpetrating them the day before the witnesses came forward.

    Simply, IF the camput police were investigating a “hate crime” then the professor should be charged with one. IF a “someone” could be found and charged with what they did to her vehicle AND the added charge of “hate crime” could be added to it, then SHE should also be charged with it.

    Does this involve an “extension” of the interpretation of “hate crime”? Yeah, maybe. Maybe not! IF campus police or the DA or LAPD or Claremont PD would arrest a white heterosexual male for such a crime and consider it a hate crime, then I think the professor deserves the same treatment. Sounds fair, doesn’t it? And, THAT is what it’s all about, isn’t it? Fairness? Or, isn’t it?!!??

  48. David Banton March 24, 2004 at 3:07 pm | | Reply

    This is just one more of many “hate crime” hoaxes in this country. Right now, a black couple is on trial in Georgia for burning their house down and claiming it was done by the KKK. Here is a recommended article detailing many such “hate crime” hoaxes:

    http://www.amren.com/hoaxarticle/hoax.htm

    Perhaps we should just prosecute crimes for what they are, and stop all this Orwellian “hate crime” nonsense.

  49. Bob Macron March 24, 2004 at 8:15 pm | | Reply

    Professor Dunn is on paid leave? Sounds like what everyone wants. She really should not be hired anywhere again as a teacher.

    I am so sick of these left-wing idiots who brainwash college white bread kids to hate their culture, the police, the country and their race.

    The CONSTANT victimology of blacks, gays, Jews is played into by politically-correct Presidents of various colleges.

    Down with Political correctness. Down with multiculturalism. Down with left-wing, America hating filth. Down with another bogus, left-wing professor who is a liar. She should be fired with no pay and NEVER re-hired in that capacity again.

  50. La Voz de Aztlan March 25, 2004 at 12:39 pm | | Reply

    How to spot an antisemitic

    hate crime hoax

    La Voz de Aztlan

    March 24, 2004

    La Voz de Aztlan, as a public service, is making the following information on how to spot an antisemitic hate crime hoax in view of the incident that occurred at the Claremont Colleges on March 9, 2004. In this incident, one of a growing number, Professor Kerri Dunn staged a hate crime hoax by graffiting “Kike Whore” and a swastika on her own car as well as slashing her tires after she delivered a speech on hate on the campus of Claremont-McKenna College.

    The information below was collected from the book “Crying Wolf – Hate Crime Hoaxes in America” written by Laird Wilcox.

    How to spot an antisemitic hate crime hoax

    What traits distinguishes antisemitc hate crime hoaxes and fabrications? Police, federal, state and local agencies, and college officials have observed certain “patterns” that tend to suggest a hoax might be afoot.

    1. An incident that can’t be corroborated with reasonable evidence or disinterested witnesses, or is accompanied by an account which contains inconsistencies, or when the alleged victim suddenly refuses to talk to police.

    Often, alleged hate crimes are insufficiently supported by evidence or reliable witnesses. Upon examination, the statements of the victim may contain inconsistent or contradictory elements. When confronted with a lack of evidence to support their claims, or with problems with their story, the victim may become angry or frightened an cease cooperating with authorities.

    2. An incident that occurs just when it’s “needed” to promote awareness or sensitivity to racism or anti-Semitism, to disarm critics and make them reluctant to “talk back.”

    Be particularly alert for hoaxes during appropriate holidays, birthdays, or on anniversaries of important events. Hoaxes may also occur following speeches by minority spokespersons, or at times when the issue of prejudice and discrimination is in the news.

    3. Repeat incidents, especially with “difficult,” resentful and easily offended individuals who frequently complain of disrespect, slights, insults or harassment.

    Incidents directed at specific individuals are unusual. In some cases hoaxers have been “followed” from one place or resident to another by hate crime perpetrators. Disturbed individuals of attention-seekers are frequently found among hoaxers. Bear in mind, however, that these individuals often create a “self-fulfilling prophecy” with their behavior and actually antagonize others to the point where they will retaliate in some manner.

    4. An incident that is particularly skillfully exploited by the alleged victim to attain victim status, manipulate institutions, obtain concessions, special privileges, or money.

    When the victims response to a hate crime is particularly skillful and articulate, or when supporters seem very well-organized and appear on the scene very quickly, it suggests some planning was afoot. Bona fide hate crimes are sometimes not reported for days after they occur. Hoaxes are almost always reported immediately.

    Because of the possibility of civil damages in hate crime cases, it is likely that hoaxes of the nature will be increasing. Be alert for cases where the issue of lawsuits and damage amounts emerge early in the event. (Note: Not an issue with Texas hate crimes law. Senate, on debate and passage on May 7, removed provisions for civil damages for hate crime victims.)

    5. Incidents which occur improbable circumstances, such as racist graffiti in a mostly black dormitory or neighborhood, assaults that occurred in normally crowded areas with no witnesses, graffiti or vandalism in a room occupied only by the victim, and so on.

    Some hoaxes are surprisingly poorly planned. In several cases hoaxers had failed to dispose of incriminating evidence. The highly improbable case, where an actual hate crime would have been difficult to pull off, is usually a hoax.

    6. In the case of graffiti, carefully drawn symbols or slurs suggest that the author really wants to get a point across—precisely what is meant and the repulsive character of the person behind it—and this suggests a hoax.

    Most bona fide incidents represent impulsive striking out, not careful planning. Generally speaking, the more elaborate the circumstances, the greater likelihood of a hoax. Cases where the damage is deliberate, meticulous and extensive should be cause for suspicion.

    7. Another trait that suggests a hoax surfaced in several of the cases mentioned here. Where authorities suspect a hoax and this face becomes known, the likelihood is enhanced somewhat when local anti-racists and radical special interest groups defame and vilify doubters. In fact, they may suspect it themselves.

    Often the perpetrator will confide in others or even brag about the hoax. Persistent rumors of a hoax are often initially ignored because of “sensitivity” concerns, or because the principle players downplay the issue with threats and pleading.

    8. Finally, several hoaxers have reported marking or symbols painted on their bodies by their alleged assailants. This rarely occurs in bona fide cases.

    For reasons that are not clear, body markings on the victim by the alleged perpetrators are apparently a cause for suspicion. One theory is that the markings are intended to represent wounds. Another is that hoaxers are often self-absorbed individuals and the markings are narcissistic attention-getting devices.

    9. Copycat hoaxes are likely to occur after an earlier, perhaps bona fide, incident has taken place that has aroused great publicity.

    A large number of similar incidents in a relatively short time may very likely include some hoaxes. Often, some of the same people will be involved and the same symbols used

    Why do Jews and others stage phoney hate crime hoaxes?

    The first has to do with the personal payoff for victimization, i.e., attention, sympathy, a sense of importance, feeding persecution fantasies, and material payoffs. The second has to do with advancing a political or social agenda, as in the case of hoaxes intending to create support for regulations or legislation, or to help create a climate sympathetic to specific interest groups. The third has to do with insurance fraud, with the racial or anti-Semitic element almost an afterthought. Most hoaxes are combinations of the first two types.

    Carefully done, the risk of discover of a hoax is minimal. Most hoaxes simply remain “unsolved” hate crimes. Those that are discovered may not result in criminal action against the hoaxers. When criminal charges are filed they can have wide ranging consequences, from long prison terms in some cases to a slap on the wrist on others, with most cases tending toward the latter.

    What can be done about hoaxes? Probably very little as long as victimization claims are so uncritically accepted, and the payoff for alleged victimization is sufficiently tempting and rewarding. “Hate crime” legislation, although well-intentioned, has created a powerful market for the side benefits of alleged hate crimes. When these crimes are not naturally occurring, or are not occurring in sufficient numbers, a motive to commit hoaxes is created. Provisions in hate crime legislation for civil damages also creates a powerful motive to commit hoaxes.

    Vigilance in discovering hoaxes and appropriate publicity may discourage some potential hoaxers. Punishment for hoaxes equal bona fide hate crimes, including sentence enhancement, would probably have a greater deterrent effect, but would also perpetuate the injustices inherent in the hate crime concept itself.

    Probably the most effective thing would be for universities, police agencies and the media to entertain a healthy skepticism about hate crime claims, and to establish a category of “not proven” in cases where no perpetrator is identified and charged. Any unsolved case may be a hoax, include those intuitively thought to be bona fide.

    * * *

  51. Nicholas Stix March 29, 2004 at 3:24 pm | | Reply

    I am aware of only one hoax involving anti-Semitic elements, and that is the Kerri Dunn case. I am aware, however, of perhaps 20 black race hoaxes, large and small, from the Tawana Brawley Hoax to racist blacks claiming a white called them the “n” word. The schema posted by LaVoz de Aztlan fits many such black race hoaxes to a “t.” However, since the group is psychotically anti-Semitic (not to mention anti-white), they naturally single out Jews as perpetrators, while ignoring the group guilty of perpetuating over 90% of race hoaxes. Notice that they didn’t cite a single hoax perpetrated by Jews. (And I have my own doubts as to whether Dunn is a practicing convert to Judaism, or someone who merely decided to identify herself as a convert out of political expediency, because identifying herself as black or Hispanic wasn’t an option.)

    I encourage anyone who doubts my description of La Voz de Aztlan to check out their Web site:

    http://aztlan.net/

    La Voz de Aztlan

  52. AFriend March 30, 2004 at 12:38 am | | Reply

    Nicholas Stix:

    Don’t forget about the Morton Downey Jr. hoax.

    A woman I went to grad school with – the president of the black students’ body – claimed that “racist pornography” had been placed in her mail folder at the school. These folders were right in the open, and it was impossible to imagine anyone risking the rest of their careers for a slur with an indeterminate purpose and message.

    I suspected then and I am sure now that she placed it there herself. My scepticism at the time was met with “you don’t know how far these white racists will go. It’s a black thing.”

    She parlayed the “pornography incident” — I should probably capitalize that (she did) into such a weep fest that the already cravenly liberal administration prostrated itself to her, the poor sacrificed little lamb.

    It’s clearer and clearer that most racism in this society – 99.9% – is directed TOWARDS whites. It’s long past that automatic victim status be granted a “person of color.”

    We need to start developing a racial identity and stop the self-loathing.

    Thanks.

  53. John Rosenberg March 30, 2004 at 2:53 pm | | Reply

    I generally delete garbage such as the above fairly quickly and block the sender, but I thought it worth leaving this comment up for a while as an example of what still exists out there.

  54. don April 5, 2004 at 5:29 pm | | Reply

    Just when I thought this thread was going to die, there an e-article on her in yahoo! news today (4/5/054). Here are two very interesting quotes:

    Pam Manske, a friend of Dunn’s, chalked up the shoplifting to high jinks. “She’d been a student — sometimes students do goofy things,” said the commercial real estate agent.

    “The bummer of the whole thing,” said Dunn at the time, was having to rent a car.

    In the first case, the friend is “rationalizing the shoplifting behavior, just as if she was a . . . . . white male heterosexual fraternity boy out of the 1950’s, 60’s, 70’s who had staged this “crime” as a “joke” or had committed a panty raid! So, we’re supposed to buy this same rationale IF the perp is anyone other than the white male hetero frat boy? Or because she was getting her PhD.? Or because . . . . ?

    Now, let’s look at the second comment. The statement from the good perp doctor (PhD, not M.D. or DVM) that the bummer about the whole thing was renting a car. You mean not getting the whole community fired up? The campus? The rest of the country? Just what kind of psychologist is this, anyway?!!?? Imagine a therapist getting caught pulling something like this! No, Dr. Keri, the bummer is that you’ve perped a crime that would have a straight white boy’s ass tossed into jail! Yeah, yeah, I know, his rich parents would have bailed him out by now. So, this makes it OK to commit the same crime?

    Oh, and by the way good doctor, moving from the male dominated Catholicism to male dominated Judaism is hardly a way to escape male dominated religion. Try . . . Universalist Unitarianism. Or something like that. Sheesh!

  55. EW April 7, 2004 at 5:16 am | | Reply

    So, how is the case continuing? Anything new? I stumbled over this story by chance and it sounds all so unreal from over the Atlantic…

    Fortunately, this type of political indoctrination still hasn’t reached our schools and I hope that it will not happen in the close future. We Czechs are lucky enough to get rid of Communist indoctrination.

    Although, the more think about it… at least since the beginning of 80’s, the Commies contented with the people just pretending to believe the indoctrination. We weren’t forced to internalize it, not really.

  56. don April 9, 2004 at 11:03 am | | Reply

    EW–

    I’m on the outside looking in, just like you. But, we probably have a better chance of catching “snippets” in the newspaper or some website (like this one!) that contains new info. As of this week, I saw an article on YAHOO! that states Keri Dunn has retained a lawyer, and the lawyer ain’t talkin’! Unlike the movie, “Chicago” her defense atty is keeping mum! Not a particular surprise, given that he wants to make sure he doesn’t let anything go to the press that could be negative for his client.

    And, of course, Keri Dunn ain’t talkin’, either. At least, nothing that has gotten to the press. What do I think will happen? I know you didn’t ask, but this gives me a chance to speculate. Well, this is one of those “incidences” that could have a huge cost for the entire leftist agenda. Hate crime is one of those jewel pieces of legislation that got pushed through the states and I think at the federal level (don’t remember real clearly about the fed. level stuff, at this time). I’m guessing this whole “incident” will get shuffled off for 6 mos. or a year, and we may “catch” a small article on the back pages of a local newspaper (like section “D” or “E” that is wayyyy toward the back of the paper!) about how Keri Dunn pleaded no lo contere to some misdemeanor, even though she had committed a felony by perpetrating a hate crime. A hate crime against herself and her own property, admittedly, but a hate crime nonetheless.

    Once again, on my soap box. IF she had murdered her lesbian lover and accused a white heterosexual male of it and, during the investigation the police descovered SHE had committed the murder, she would be charged with and tried for murder (maybe not murder 1 with special circumstances, but some felony level homicide charge would probably be filed) and not allowed to walk on some wimpy misdemeanor charge of filing a false police report. Assuming she DID file a police report!

    OK, OK, for those of you who think the “murder” thing is a non-sequitur, then just ask yourself why you wouldn’t consider it a hate crime to do what she did? Why does it take a person of the “right” persuasion to commit a hate crime? Didn’t the communities (Claremont Univ., City of Claremont, LaVerne, Montclair, Pomona) suffer from the hate crime, since it was made sooooo public by Keri Dunn? Wasn’t the impact exactly the same on the community as if a white heterosexual male of the KKK or skinhead type of pursuasion had perpetrated it? So, why not send “a message” to ALL perpetrators that this type of behavior will not be tolerated, including committing the hate crime and trying to make it appear as if someone ELSE did it? This is a little more than farting and blaming it on the dog!

  57. EW April 22, 2004 at 9:42 am | | Reply

    Thanks for POV. I also think that the whole affair will be “undercarpetized”.

    When we are at the multiculti and diversity issues (always the other side of the hate crime, aren’t they) – I read that there are all-black colleges and schools in the USA, but would it be acceptable to have all-white ones? There are sites encouraging Negroes to think black, act black and whatever – but would it be acceptable to encourage whites act white? And if not, then why?

    Just musing. Seems pretty one-sided, that multiculture.

  58. don April 27, 2004 at 10:09 am | | Reply

    Yeah, EW, your view from the distance has alot to be said for it. Prior to the late-60’s, many U.S. colleges/universities were predominantly “white.” A curious racial thing that only seems to exist in the U.S., probably an aftermath of slavery. Once you go south to Mexico and further south, one runs into something called “color bar.” In other words, multi-racism (the darker one is, the less likely they will get the better jobs, live in the better neighborhoods, blah, blah, blah). As far as I know, this is true enough. However, as far as I know, the left and established social sciences in the U.S. don’t deal with this very honestly. I’m sure, somewhere out there, a U.S. professor has written something scathing on it. But, the color bar of Brazil, for example, is simply NOT USED to teach “racism, racial integeration” in the U.S. Maybe because they don’t TRY to correct such things seriously in Brazil?

  59. don April 27, 2004 at 10:15 am | | Reply

    Well, I read in this morning’s paper that we FINALLY have the L.A.D.A. moving on the perfessur (misspelling intended). One misdemeanor count of filing a false police report and 2 felony counts for insurance fraud. The misdemeanor will be good for dismissal, and the insurance stuff will probably be plea bargained down. So, where the hell is the hate crime charge?!!?? Oh yeah, THAT’S right! This isn’t a whi’ het’ro male! So, no hate crime!

    I just keep asking myself, if this was whi’ straight bo’ perfessur BILL who perped these things, would HE be charged with a hate crime? I suspect the answer is “yes.” Maybe a RESOUNDING YES!!!!!

    It is just these kinds of crimes that expose the “values” of the other side. And, might I add, the willingness to commit crimes for “the cause.” With al Qaeda coming back in the future, I think I don’t want THESE citizens at my back.

  60. bruno May 30, 2004 at 2:08 pm | | Reply

    I think the amount of press coverage is very telling.

    There has been several other hate crime hoaxes in the preceding weeks and in the following weeks. None got a tenth of the coverage Kerry Dunn’s got, at least online.

    I can’t help but notice the woman was white so it was okay for a lot of people in the media to talk about it and expose it.

    Oddly, Kerry Dunn is a victim of the very ideology she was promoting. When talking on racially charged matters, it’s allways okay to bash white people and only on such occasions.

    Had Kerry Dunn suceeded at her hoax, white people passed one more time for pathological haters. She failed but that was one more opportunity, on a racial matter, to present euro-americans as having no credibility.

    You can find a big list of links on hate crime hoaxes that is “racist hoax” at this adress and check for yourself that Kerry Dunn is not the only exposed race-hoaxer, but the only one that got such media coverage. :

    http://racismeantiblanc.bizland.com/005/03.htm

  61. blogs for industry February 4, 2005 at 1:50 am | | Reply

    Ward Churchill

    Sigh…I had been meaning to take a pass on Ward Churchill on this blog. But now Colorado politicians are threatening to punish the Univ. of Colorado if they don’t fire the http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/4151313/detail.html noted idiotarian. Ch…

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