On Monday morning we received a crime alert regarding an off-campus burglary at gun point to SMU students. This was an unfortunate event, and my sympathies go out to those affected. I am glad we were informed about this crime with an alert to the entire student body, as well as faculty and staff.

My concern, however, is that we did not receive a crime-alert a few weeks ago when an Asian American student was assaulted on the SMU campus by individuals who threw rocks, shot water guns and yelled racial slurs.

There was no crime alert sent out, and the only way students were informed about the incident was from a small article in the Dallas Morning News and another in The Daily Campus reporting a “Possible Hate Crime.”

As far as the minority community is concerned, this was an assault based on racial premises, on the university’s campus.

Indeed, a hate crime.

And yet, there was no crime alert to let the community know what had occurred. My question is, why was this not sent out
to everybody?

The student body was not alerted about a crime that happened to an SMU minority student on campus, most likely committed by SMU students, but the off campus burglary, with the primary suspects being black, was reported.

Though this may be unintentional, the lack of reporting comes off as a racial issue.

As a student leader, I have seen that the minority community has been attacked multiple times, and we have had the need to respond to several prejudiced events based on race and ethnicity this year and in years before.

The university excluding this hate crime only further shows the university’s lack of concern and involvement in this issue. The student body is working diligently to address these issues, but how is any awareness supposed to be disseminated if incidents like these are not taken seriously to the extent of a crime?

If there is to be any change in campus culture, the entire community must be aware of their occurrence.

I hope this serves a wake-up call that racial discrimination is an issue on this campus. I truly believe that most people do not have malicious intent, but in order to stop the few who do, we must make the entire student body aware.

It is not the sole responsibility of the minority community to battle ignorance and bias, but if the university will not let the students know, we will.

Cetina is a senior majoring in computer engineering.