What exactly do you have to do to commit a hate crime around here?

The Department of Public Safety released its annual “Safety and You” report for 2003 on Friday, available for your viewing pleasure at dps.iastate.edu. By looking at the page of crime statistics, you would most likely get the impression that ISU students can feel snug as a bug in a rug when it comes to their on-campus and off-campus safety.

In 2002, the most prominent personal offense was burglary, and that was reported to have happened only 32 times. That was followed by 10 reports of arson and 10 reports of motor vehicle theft. Seeing as how those numbers are out of offenses against more than 27,000 students enrolled at Iowa State, I am not too worried about those things happening to me. But below the section of personal offenses is a section for hate crimes, separated out by category of prejudice: race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity and disability. The zeroes all the way across the board give the impression there is absolutely no expression of “hate” at Iowa State — shouldn’t that comfort me?

If it were the truth, it surely would. But it isn’t.

All those zeroes look great on paper. It puts Iowa State at an advantage — the hate crime statistics should be indicative of the social atmosphere of the university, therefore having low numbers or no numbers makes it tempting to feel Iowa State is an outstanding bastion of freedom. What student wouldn’t want to go to a university where they could be themselves without having to contend with prejudices and stereotypes?

However, I know and you know those zeroes don’t really mean we’re a big, happy family that celebrates diversity and accepts all people.

These zeroes hide the fact that, in November 2002, the messages “Die Fag Die Fag” and “Dean of Fags” were spray painted on the side of campus buildings.

These zeroes hide every time someone was verbally attacked because of someone else’s prejudice.

These zeroes hide attitudes that create hostile environments — environments full of people who don’t have to resort to physical violence to make others feel unwelcome, because words are all they need.

In 1992, the U.S. Congress defined a hate crime as “[a crime in which] the defendant’s conduct was motivated by hatred, bias or prejudice, based on the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation of another individual or group of individuals.” However, that definition isn’t all-encompassing. Each state has its own set of rules that apply to labeling something as a hate crime.

Iowa law defines a hate crime as a public offense (assault, criminal mischief, trespass or arson) against a person or a person’s property because of bias against them.

Physical violence isn’t needed to show evidence of hate. Legally, the zeroes in the hate crime categories may be correct, but in reality they just aren’t. The act of vandalism to a public property insulting an entire multitude of people for their sexual orientation is hateful, yet it’s anonymous and not prosecutable because it wasn’t specifically targeted toward one person or a definite group of people.

Just because bigoted attitudes aren’t “evident,” it doesn’t mean they don’t exist — even some socially ingrained attitudes toward crime are hateful.

Take for example the seven reported “forcible sex offenses” at Iowa State recorded in 2002. Rape is definite physical violence that causes emotional upheaval and ruins lives, yet it isn’t defined as a hate crime — but it should be.

Rape isn’t a crime of sexual satisfaction, it’s a crime of power — power over the person being raped. Rape isn’t taken as seriously as it should be simply because seven out of every eight rape victims are female, according to the 2002 National Crime Victimization Survey. For rape to be a hate crime, the rapist has to have a “hatred, bias or prejudice” against the individual — but would anyone rape someone they respect? No.

Women are continually disrespected in society. Rape continues because these devaluing attitudes fuel it — and there are hardly any consequences for it. According to U.S. Department of Justice statistics, 15 out of 16 rapists will never see a day in jail. That includes the perpetrators of the unreported 61 percent of rapes/sexual assaults each year.

Think of the nearly 20 unreported rapes that most likely occurred at Iowa State last year and of why they remain that way. Think of the attitudes this community has shown toward people because of their gender, race, religion and/or sexual orientation.

Think we’re free of hate? Think again.