Students at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, Calif., learned March 9 that one of their professors' cars had been vandalized, smashed and covered in anti-Semitic slurs.
A week later, investigators alleged that the professor had vandalized the car herself, shocking students and administrators who had mobilized against hate crimes on campus.
Kerri Dunn, a visiting assistant professor in the psychology department at CMC, reported that the vandalism occurred while she attended a forum on the CMC campus about race relations, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.
But a press release issued by the Claremont Police Department stated that the police and the FBI have concluded that Dunn in fact vandalized her own car, according to a Sunday press release from CMC President Pamela Gann.
As students and faculty returned from spring break on Monday, reactions to the allegedly faked hate crime were mixed at the Claremont Colleges, a five-college consortium including CMC and Scripps, Pitzer, Harvey Mudd and Pomona colleges.
Dunn continues to deny the hoax allegations, and Gann is encouraging students and faculty to respect Dunn's right to due process, Gann wrote in a Tuesday press release.
Dunn is currently on a paid leave from CMC, and the administration has not yet determined whether or not she remain in her two-year position until its scheduled end on June 30.
Dunn could be charged with the misdemeanor of filing a false police report under California law, although it's likely that the Los Angeles Police will not bring charges against Dunn, Gann told The Herald.
Dunn also could be charged with a felony under federal law if charges are brought by the U.S. Attorney's Office, Gann said.
Following the vandalism, students organized rallies and speeches in protest of hate, and the administrations at all five colleges canceled classes the day after the incident was reported, Gann said.
During the weeks prior to the vandalism, students at the Claremont schools had also protested a series of racially-charged events, said Anna Rook, a Pomona senior.
An incident involving a cross-burning on the Harvey Mudd campus in January elicited an "inadequate" and "late" response from the schools' administrations but prompted students to take action, Pomona senior Rabiya Kassam-Adams said.
Students from three of the Claremont colleges had stolen a student's piece of art, which featured a large cross, from the Pomona campus and burned it on the Harvey Mudd campus, Gann explained.
Student conduct hearings considered the event a theft and destruction of property case, rather than a hate crime, Gann said. The students said they hadn't thought about possible effects of their actions, and were not motivated by racial or religious ideology.
Rook noted that Harvey Mudd has a long tradition of burning various objects as pranks. But she said it's hard to believe that college students would not be aware of the racial implications of cross-burning.
One incident with more explicit racist intent involved a racial slur written alongside a picture of African-American scientist George Washington Carver posted in a residence hall in February - Black History Month, Gann noted.
Another recent incident was instigated by members of a Pomona fraternity, Rook said. As part of a scavenger hunt, pledges to the Omega Alpha Delta social club were required to have a picture taken with 10 Asian students, she said.
Rook said the administration handled the incident poorly. One Asian-American student who spoke out against racially-insensitive acts received threatening e-mails, one of which read, "Die, chink, die die die," Rook said.
Race-related incidents aren't new to the Claremont campuses, Rook said, but "the administration has not taken really serious active actions to document" them. The events that took place in January and February are "only a few in a long line that have been happening for years and years," Rook said.
In response to race-related incidents at the Claremont schools, Rook co-founded Call to Action, a student organization that deals with power dynamics on campus. She said her goal is to create a comprehensive document about campus climate on issues of race, sex and sexual orientation.
As part of the campus climate project, the group is sending out surveys to faculty and students asking about their experiences with hate and discrimination. Rook said she has already received some "pretty powerful responses."
One came from an Asian American chemistry professor who described witnessing another professor ask an Asian American student to drink a shot of liquor to demonstrate the effects of alcohol on people of different races, Rook said. The Asian American professor said she felt ashamed not to have spoken out, Rook said.
None of the incidents at the Claremont Colleges this year qualify as hate crimes under California law, but the administration continues to support student efforts to eliminate hatred on campus, Gann said. "No matter what the outcome (of recent events), their reaction was right," she said.
