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Campus break-in called hate crime
Skidmore incident under investigation
BY LEE COLEMAN Gazette Reporter
Reach Gazette reporter Lee Coleman at 587-1780 or at lcoleman@dailygazette.

    Skidmore College security officers are investigating a break-in at the college’s Center for Sex and Gender over the weekend and what is described as a hate crime, a college spokeswoman said Tuesday.
    The Center for Sex and Gender is located on the third floor of the Case student center on the campus on North Broadway.
    “For dykes only” was written on the office door sometime over the weekend and “bitches deserve it” was written on a bulletin board outside the office, according to college spokeswoman Andrea Wise.
    A hate crime includes any purposely written words that disparage a person’s or group’s “race, gender religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity/national origin and disability,” according to the college’s campus safety and security report.
    A “small amount” of money was taken from the office during the weekend break-in but campus security officers are not sure if the hate crime words and the break-in are related, Wise said.
    College security personnel will investigate the incidents and turn the information over to the Saratoga Springs Police Department, Wise said.
    She said there is no videotape evidence of the break-in.
    The Center for Sex and Gender Relations was opened in 2003. The office is staffed by 18 student advocates under the guidance of three administrative advisers, according to the Skidmore College Web site, http://www.skidmore.edu.
    “The original concept for the center was to develop a safe haven where students could go to report sexual assault incidents,” the Web site says.
    “Today the center has become a confidential place where all students can visit to gather information about safer sex practices, purchase condoms, look at various resources regarding sexuality and gender or hold discussions about sexual relationship issues,” the Web site says.
    The investigation is moving slower than usual because many of the college’s 2,400 students left for a brief Thanksgiving break after classes Tuesday. The students will return for classes on Monday.
    This isn’t the first “hate crime” incident at Skidmore. Wise said two hate crimes — both involving offensive words written on “white boards” on student dorm doors — were reported in 2007.
    When former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft came to give a talk at Skidmore this past April, someone painted a swastika on a large poster announcing the visit.
    A Nov. 21 story in the student newspaper, The Skidmore News, says there were at least seven “bias” or hate crime incidents reported during the fall semester.
    The story said an unnamed student woke up Nov. 2 to fi nd a swastika drawn on the outside of her door. “This person became the victim of a hate crime,” the story by student Katie Vallas said. .....................................................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar01401