Racist Messages on Campus Spur Call for Strong Action : Hate crimes: Group of Cypress College students complain that officials aren’t doing enough to stop the problem. Administrators say they’re doing all they can.

Courtney Smalley, a 20-year-old Cypress College student from Garden Grove, said he was shocked at what he found inside a book at the community college’s library on Friday.

Smalley, who is African-American, said that as he opened the library book, a card with a Nazi swastika and a printed, white supremacy hate message fell out. He said similar racist messages have been stuffed into college library books for several months.

“It’s like a slap in the face,” Smalley said at a meeting Friday afternoon of about 60 college students representing ethnic clubs and organizations on the campus.

Students said they held the meeting because racist flyers and graffiti have been showing up at Cypress College for more than a year. They charged that the college’s administration has tried to “cover up” the problem and been insensitive to their concerns.

College officials denied the charge.

“We haven’t a clue who’s doing this on our campus, but we’re doing everything we can to try to find out,” said Larry Mercandante, Cypress’ vice president for student development services.

Mercandante said the racist flyers and graffiti started appearing in fall of 1992, tailed off after a few months, and then resurfaced on campus when the 1993-94 fall semester began in August.

Students, however, disagreed, saying the racist notes and flyers in library books and painted epithets in campus restrooms have appeared almost constantly for the past year.

Two faculty members at the inter-club meeting on Friday agreed with the students’ charges that college administrators are not doing enough to find the source of the racist materials and to allay fears of many ethnic students.

Luz Calvo, a political science instructor, and Enriqueta Ramos, a Spanish and Chicano studies teacher, told the students that more needs to be done.

But later, in an interview, Mercandante said the college administration is doing everything possible to catch those responsible for the hate messages. He said both campus security officers and Cypress police so far have been unable to identify the culprits.

Cypress Police Capt. Bob Bandurraga said Friday that it is unclear whether the culprits are from inside or outside the campus.

“It could be either way,” he said. “Right now, however, we don’t see any evidence of there being a large contingent of white supremacists doing this. It’s more likely one or two people.”

Bandurraga said if the instigators are found they will be charged with violating California’s law against hate crimes.

The neo-Nazi hate messages found inside library books are printed in several languages and contain slurs against African-Americans, Mexican-Americans, Jews, women, gays and other minority groups. The racist graffiti, mainly found in campus restrooms but occasionally found on walls around campus, usually consist of swastikas accompanied by “white power” slogans.

Mercandante said Cypress workers immediately paint over the hate graffiti as soon as it is found. He said library workers have repeatedly scoured books to try to remove racist materials that may have been stuffed inside.

“I can understand where the students are coming from in terms of this fear because of the (racist) stickers in the library books,” Mercandante said. “But I think we’re doing a good job, and so far there has not been an incident of anyone being hurt.”

Students, however, said the college and the community need to be prodded into more action.

“We’re going to have a student protest march next Wednesday to let more people know about this,” said Xochitl Palomino, 21, of Cypress. “We want these scare tactics to stop.”