A crowd of several hundred people gathered at Guilford College on Wednesday night to show support of a student who claims he was harassed because of his sexual orientation.
The threats happened in the Bryan Hall dormitory last week. On Monday, a student found a note on his door that had a death threat and called him a derogatory name. The note also said "nobody wants your kind on campus."
Last Thursday, someone dropped a rock with a letter attached in the same student's window. The note used the same derogatory name and also said: "You don't deserve life like the rest of the world. It's bad enough with out all the gay crap pulling people down. It's sick, unnatural, and death is almost too good for you. Almost."
The dean of students who live in Bryan Hall informed students about the hate crimes during a meeting on Friday.
"That note was horrible. They read that out loud and I think everybody was just shocked. It was so disturbing, so upsetting, so hateful and so mean," said Sarah Meteyer, a sophomore at Guilford College.
The Gay Pride Organization organized a vigil at the school on Wednesday to draw attention to the crimes.
"We're trying to heal a community. A lit candle, more like 386 of them, to signify unity," said Kent Chabotar, Guilford College President.
Officials at the college are still trying to determine who made the threats against the student.
"We're trying to figure out who did this, but that's less important than trying to understand the culture that would let it happen," said Guilford College President Kent Chabotar.
The victim, according to friends, is doing better.
"He's feeling better, now that everybody's supportive of him," said sophomore William Savlove, a friend of the victim.
Some students say the next display of unity could be at the state capital to ask legislators to consider defining something like the recent harassment at the college as a "hate crime."
"My common sense logic is there was clearly hate, and a threat to me is a crime, but we have to make sure the state and legal authorities recognize it as such. Maybe not this incident, but having a more general definition of what crime hate is defined as should future events like this happen again," said Guilford College President Kent Chabotar.
The threats happened in the Bryan Hall dormitory last week. On Monday, a student found a note on his door that had a death threat and called him a derogatory name. The note also said "nobody wants your kind on campus."
Last Thursday, someone dropped a rock with a letter attached in the same student's window. The note used the same derogatory name and also said: "You don't deserve life like the rest of the world. It's bad enough with out all the gay crap pulling people down. It's sick, unnatural, and death is almost too good for you. Almost."
The dean of students who live in Bryan Hall informed students about the hate crimes during a meeting on Friday.
"That note was horrible. They read that out loud and I think everybody was just shocked. It was so disturbing, so upsetting, so hateful and so mean," said Sarah Meteyer, a sophomore at Guilford College.
The Gay Pride Organization organized a vigil at the school on Wednesday to draw attention to the crimes.
"We're trying to heal a community. A lit candle, more like 386 of them, to signify unity," said Kent Chabotar, Guilford College President.
Officials at the college are still trying to determine who made the threats against the student.
"We're trying to figure out who did this, but that's less important than trying to understand the culture that would let it happen," said Guilford College President Kent Chabotar.
The victim, according to friends, is doing better.
"He's feeling better, now that everybody's supportive of him," said sophomore William Savlove, a friend of the victim.
Some students say the next display of unity could be at the state capital to ask legislators to consider defining something like the recent harassment at the college as a "hate crime."
"My common sense logic is there was clearly hate, and a threat to me is a crime, but we have to make sure the state and legal authorities recognize it as such. Maybe not this incident, but having a more general definition of what crime hate is defined as should future events like this happen again," said Guilford College President Kent Chabotar.
