Sonoma State Star

Issue date: 4/15/08 Section: News

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During the evening of Thursday, April 10, the campaign signs of Presidential candidates Derek Pierre and Jonathan T. White were torn down and vandalized, in an act of hate that has not yet been seen at SSU.
Friday morning, both Pierre and White were shocked to see their signs in ruins. Not only were the signs torn, but many of Pierre's posters were also defaced with racial slurs, such as: "nigger" and "white power."
"This event has been very eye opening for not only myself, but also many other students," said Pierre. "It feels surreal that such an event would happen right here on our very own campus. The safety for many students, and myself, has been compromised."
"The signs of Derek Pierre…were vandalized and ripped apart solely based on the fact that he is a person of color," explained an eMemo circulated by the School of Social Sciences. "Jonathan White's signs were also vandalized. Underneath his last name, to word 'power' was spray painted in blue to reaffirm that this vandalism was based on hate and white supremacy."
After finding the signs, Candidate for Vice President of Finance Nick Jones encouraged Pierre and White to report the vandalism to the SSU Police Services. The signs were turned in on Friday, April 11, which commenced an investigation. At the time of press, no suspects had been identified.
Although the discriminatory vandalism caught the SSU community off-guard, the event has also united the campus.
"Activities such as defacing campaign posters with racial or other epithets will not be tolerated," wrote President Ruben Armiñana in an eMemo to the entire campus, after hearing about the event.
"I feel confident that this type of repugnant behavior is not practiced nor tolerated by most members of the campus," said Armiñana. "As I know to be the case with few exceptions, the campus community embraces and values the differences between us and works to examine the causes and roots of intolerance with a goal of increasing understanding and respect."
In reaction to last week's events, Pierre, White and Jones planned a walkout and rally event for Monday, April 14 in the Stevenson Quad.
[Editor's note: This event occurred after the STAR went to press.]

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