Cal Lutheran Graffiti Probed as Hate Crime

A spate of racist and homophobic graffiti on the campus of Cal Lutheran University has led the Sheriff’s Department to launch an investigation into possible hate crimes and raised concerns among the African American population there.

“I can’t speak for everyone, but [the graffiti] seems a little personal,” said Diva Ward, the advisor for Cal Lutheran’s African-American Student Union and assistant director of the school’s Upward Bound program.

Detectives are investigating at least six incidents on the Thousand Oaks campus in recent weeks in which graffiti aimed at African Americans was scrawled on bathroom walls and information kiosks at the small religious school.

One flier targeting homosexuals and two handbills containing neo-Nazi information allegedly obtained from the Internet were also slipped under office doors in the past six weeks, according to university administrators.

The Sheriff’s Department is treating all the incidents as hate crimes but has yet to determine if the acts--which occurred before and after the school’s spring break--are related.

“I was surprised,” Ward said. “I wasn’t aware there was such a climate here.”

Officials at the 2,500-student university are equally troubled.

Students from minority backgrounds and from overseas constitute 25.5% of the university’s population, making it the most ethnically diverse school affiliated with the 28-campus Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. African Americans make up 3.2% of the student population.

University administrators said they were not sure if the scrawlings and fliers were the responsibility of a single student, a group on campus or the work of others venturing onto the university’s grounds.

“We certainly hope that it’s not people who are students, but if they are they shouldn’t be here,” said the Rev. Mark Knutson, Cal Lutheran’s pastor and a member of the school’s anti-racism task force.

“I think if it fell under the category of a hate crime it would be a criminal offense and certainly result in expulsion,” he added.

Knutson said the racist incidents have injected an air of unease into the usually quiet atmosphere at Cal Lutheran.

“I think people are watching more,” Knutson said. “It’s the kind of thing we’re taking seriously, but it’s also something that’s not running rampant either.”

Ward said the African-American Student Union’s increasingly activist stance regarding campus and political issues may have touched off the outbursts.

“The African-American Student Union has been pretty active this year and our presence is known and felt,” she said. “But this all could just be the feelings of an individual or individuals.”