URI protests on Quadrangle to 'Stop the Hate'

11/19/09 - Protesting the recent increase in bigotry on campus, University of Rhode Island students gathered on the Quadrangle yesterday in response to URI junior Christina Knoll's "Stop the Hate at URI" silent protest. According to Knoll, she became motivated to organize the protest after speaking to a friend about the messages of bigotry expressed throughout the campus.

In recent months, URI has been home to multiple hate crimes, ranging from graffiti on bathroom walls to verbal abuse. Targeting specific groups of people, Knoll said these crimes have become the subject of much negative attention from the media.

In response, Knoll decided it was time to take a stand against the bigotry spreading across the URI community.

"We are a community representing the world in saying that we will not tolerate what is going on," Knoll said.

Two weeks after her initial idea, Knoll, along with a few hundred URI students, united in the common goal of conveying the message of intolerance to hate crimes.

Creating thousands of fliers and posters that were distributed throughout the campus and establishing a Facebook group for the event, as well as receiving monetary aid from the Housing and Residential Life, Greek system, and Athletic Center, the event received much awareness in the days leading up to the protest.

Knoll believes that an e-mail, sent by URI President David M. Dooley to students and faculty, urging them to go is what affected the "unexpected" turnout rate the most.

Among the groups that attended the event included sports teams, members from the GLBT community, the URI Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies and members from the Electronic Music Association.

Donning anti-hate T-shirts and carrying signs that read "equality," students spent 15 minutes of silence reflecting on the implications hate crimes often have on the URI community.

"Hate crimes bring in a whole unnecessary uneasiness between people; they put up a barrier between them and others," freshman Alaina Ferreira said. "If these barriers are broken, it would end the 'us' and 'them' mentality that usually takes place on campus. There will be no more going against each other."

Brian Kovacs, a community volunteer working for the Center for GLBT, added that hate crimes make people feel unsafe. According to him, hate crimes against minority communities are "especially terrifying" experiences for them.

Color, orientation and creed should not be factors in the judgment of a person, Kovacs said.

Content with the turnout of the event, the Vice President's Assistant for Student Affairs for the GLBT program at URI, Andrew Winters, said that between the graffiti and hateful messages, he is very aware of the intolerable actions taking place on campus.

"We needed to take a stand against the hate crimes here," Winters said. "And this protest is one step in the direction of moving away from the silence of hate crimes, and toward love, intolerance for hatred, and inclusion."

Like Winters, Knoll was surprised by the turnout and hopes that the event will garner awareness of the negative impacts bigotry has on the URI community. She said that hate is not just a message on a wall; it offends people and gives the university a negative image.

"Realistically, this [protest] is too symbolic for anyone on the low level to influence," Ferreira said. "This won't influence those kinds of people too much."

Even if Ferreira's words are accurate, others agreed the "Stop the Hate at URI" Silent Protest had much impact on the community.

According to Kovacs, the event gave visibility to the bigotry expressed throughout URI. He said the large turnout rate of the event showed that there is a "sizeable portion" of the URI community that finds these issues important to them.

In addition, he said that the "incredibly moving" event showed the deep level of commitment by URI students and faculty to make the campus a better place.

"Now that the protest is over, everyone needs to understand that this is only the first step to get the word about hate out. There will be more preventative actions against hate crime in the future," Knoll said.

She hopes that classes, committees and an entire curriculum will be created for nonviolence and peace in the URI community in the near future.

Only time will tell the level of impact Knoll's "Stop the Hate at URI" silent protest has had at URI. But, as students and faculty agreed, the event truly is the beginning of a stand against animosity at URI.