ClydeR
12-14-2010, 11:35 AM
At first they thought somebody had urinated on homosexual books in the Harvard Library and they labeled it a "hate crime." Upon further investigation, however, they discovered that someone had accidentally left his or her bottle of urine on the shelf where it was accidentally knocked over on the 36 books. They really jumped the gun calling it a "hate crime." It was just a completely understandable accident.
It's wrong to jump to unwarranted conclusions.
On November 24, library staff at Lamont discovered the damaged books—on subjects including lesbian and gay issues and same-sex marriage—along with a bottle assumed to have contained what investigators believed to be urine. This past Friday, library personnel reported the incident to the College and Harvard University Police Department as vandalism, and the affair was subsequently investigated as a hate crime for the "focused nature and related topics" of the affected books, according to Hammonds.
But upon an investigation by HUPD, it was revealed Monday morning that "our own library personnel" had accidentally spilled a bottle, containing what was reported to be urine, that had been found on the shelf, according to Hammonds. Harvard College Library plans to replace all 36 damaged books as soon as possible, she added.
"I believe this is an important new fact in the investigation and warrants my sharing it with you immediately. While we should not minimize the seriousness of this incident, HUPD is no longer classifying this incident as a hate crime," Hammonds wrote in her statement. "This nuance in the facts in the case also explains why library personnel did not immediately report the incident and treated it instead as a prank."
More... (http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2010/12/13/lamont-hammonds-LGBT-harvard/)
It's wrong to jump to unwarranted conclusions.
On November 24, library staff at Lamont discovered the damaged books—on subjects including lesbian and gay issues and same-sex marriage—along with a bottle assumed to have contained what investigators believed to be urine. This past Friday, library personnel reported the incident to the College and Harvard University Police Department as vandalism, and the affair was subsequently investigated as a hate crime for the "focused nature and related topics" of the affected books, according to Hammonds.
But upon an investigation by HUPD, it was revealed Monday morning that "our own library personnel" had accidentally spilled a bottle, containing what was reported to be urine, that had been found on the shelf, according to Hammonds. Harvard College Library plans to replace all 36 damaged books as soon as possible, she added.
"I believe this is an important new fact in the investigation and warrants my sharing it with you immediately. While we should not minimize the seriousness of this incident, HUPD is no longer classifying this incident as a hate crime," Hammonds wrote in her statement. "This nuance in the facts in the case also explains why library personnel did not immediately report the incident and treated it instead as a prank."
More... (http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2010/12/13/lamont-hammonds-LGBT-harvard/)