Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (March 10, 2004)
Two fires, two days sparks concern ISAIAH CREEL C lackamas P rint Clackamas County Fire Department puts out a fire started in a trash can last night. Katie Funk Nic Delzell T he C lackamas P rint Photo Illustration by CORY PRICE C lackamas P rint Hate crime on campus Legal marriage, defaced posters affect campus club Ten ways to fight hate on campus if they don’t? Prepare yourself Rise up: Inaction in the face * of hate will be viewed as wpa- ■ to understand and work with the thy or, worse yet, as support for media. bigotry itself. Do something. Know your campus; Don’t let hate go unchallenged. Before, during and after a bias crisis, examine institutional Pull together: Bias inch racism .and bigotry on your cam dents and hate crimes can pus. Be prepared to negotiate divide communities. Don’t let your way through these-problem hase tear people apart on your areas for effective changes. campus; pull together instead. | '7. 9 T Speak out: When hate strikes, don’t remain silent. Join with others; use your voices to denounce bigotry. Also, help guide the administration in its role. Q Teach tolerance: Bias crises often bring pain, anger arid distrust to campus. They also present an opportunity for learning. Don’t miss the chance to eradicate ignorance; ¿J. Support the victims: Make sure that arty planned response to a hate crime or bias incident takes into account the victim’s needs and wishes. Tbo often, decisions are made on behalf of victims, but without their actual input Maintain momentum: The immediate crisis has passed. You’ve got two papers due and a midterm coming up. No one seems interested in follow-up meetings. ' What happens now? E Name it, know it: Are you dealing with a bate crime or a bias incident? Hate crimes are a matter for the criminal justice system; bias incidents áre gov erned by campus policy. A Understand the media: What happens if thé media descends on your campus during a bias crisis? And what happens 10. Pass the torch: What happens when you. leave campus? Will you leave behind a record of activism that will inspire incoming students to pick up the fight? Make sure you do. i —Information taken from a pamphlet handed out at a training session on how to: pre vent hate at school, distributed by tolerance.org Vandalism of Rainbow Club posters stirs up awareness ly right now,” said Tara Sprehe, of Student Outreach and Service Learning, faculty With recent defacing of coordinator and also a co Rainbow Club posters on advisor of the Rainbow Club. campus, and statements such Despite hurtful words, the as “eat shit and die,” “shut up club was inspired to hear and move to San Francisco,” everyone’s thoughts after and “God hates fags” written receiving comments on their on comment sheets, posters. Clackamas students and facul “We thought, if people are ty are witnessing and experi going to write on our posters, encing hate crime firsthand. let's create posters that they However, dealing with can write on,” said Sprehe, hate crime is not something who also commented on the new to clubs on campus, 1,600 plus gay marriages that including the Rainbow Club, have taken place in Clackamas’ gay-straight Multnomah County in the last alliance. four days. “I think that the . Club posters are allowed marriage licenses are helping to hang on campus walls'for shape that conversation,” she up to 30 days, however said. The- Rainbow Club hung Rainbow Club posters typical ly do not last for more than a two blank posters on couple of days. McLoughlin Hall and on the “We have people writing -Community Center leaving, on them, we have people spit anyone a place to express ting on them. It’s (people] rip their opinion. Along with uplifting and ping posters down or ripping posters in half,” said Cheryl ■supportive comments, the Hollatz-Wisely, director of aforementioned hateful com Student Leadership and ments were also quickly Outreach and co-advisor for noticed on the sheets. Hate crimes like this are the Rainbow Club. “I don’t think we're the usually the first stage of a only club that goes through string that can lead to even this, but we're part of an worse things, such as ‘When organization that is a divisive you write something issue in this country, especial Please see HATE, Page 3 Karlin Johnson N ews E ditor Two small fires outside .the Community Center caused minimal damage on Monday and Tuesday night; campus officials say they don’t know if the fires are related. A small Fire outside the Community Center Monday night didn’t cause much damage thanks to custodian Mel Ho$te'tler, who used a fire extinguisher to douse the flames before the Clackamas County Fire District (CCFD) arrived.' “It was a.close call,” said Ken Kellogg, stationary engineer for campus services. Kellogg had spotted the blaze just after Hostetler and radioed Campus Safety before rushing over with a mop bucket. “By the time 1 got here, Mel [had] grabbed the fire extinguisher and gotten there before me,” Kellogg said. “1 doused [the fire] with water just to be safe, [then] the fire department took over.” According to Dick Ashbaugh, department chair of criminal justice and emergency management, there was no damage and no one was in danger. The fire department briefly investigated the scene and concluded the fire was likely ignited by a cigarette thrown into the bushes. On Tuesday night, another small fire was set ablaze in a trash can on the lower level, courtyard between the Community Center and Barlow Hall. At about 6:30.p.m. the CCFD arrived at the bus turn around and promptly put out the blaze. According to Clackamas County Fire District Lt. Mike Corless the fire posed no immediate threat to stu dents or any campus buildings. The causes of both fires are unknown and, according to Campus Safety, a CCFD investigator will be sent to campus to look into the blazes. Campus Safety was unsure when the investigation would take place. “It was still blazing when the fire department showed up,” Campus Safety Officer Patrick Duley said. “The cause is kind of unknown right now; this could be an accident. But since it was around the same time as last night’s, fire, we are going to run some extra patrol in that area the next few days around the same time. The whole problem is, we don’t know the cause.” ISAIAH CREEL C lackamas P rint This slightly burned pack of cigarettes was found in the ashes of the burnt trash can.
