Two hate bias incidents have been reported at the University of Maryland over the past several days.
At 1:16 p.m. Wednesday, an employee reported to University Police that they found “offensive language against the African-American community” written in pencil on the men’s bathroom stall wall in the Technology Advancement Program Building, said University Police spokesperson Sgt. Rosanne Hoaas.
Police are unsure how long the writing was on the wall. After a picture was taken of the writing, it was removed.
[Read more: Former diversity officer Roger Worthington criticizes UMD leadership at open meeting]
On Sunday, police responded to a hate bias incident at Commons 7. A student told police that upon returning home from running an errand, they found “non-inclusive, anti-LGBTQ language” written on their wall, Hoaas said.
A detective has been assigned to investigate both incidents and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion has been notified.
Both cases are still active.
Since a string of hate bias incidents last year, the university has implemented a policy prohibiting threatening and intimidating conduct and created a hate bias incident log to monitor incidents that occur on the campus.
Six hate bias incidents have been tracked on the log since the start of the semester, including a swastika, anti-Semitic and racist virtual messages and anti-LGBTQ writings.
