QUP's chalkings removed

Members filed three reports with DPS, cite other incidents

Members of the Queer Unity Project filed a police report with the Department of Public Safety after the group's chalkings were removed from the Diag and surrounding areas Monday morning. QUP members allege that marks made by other campus groups were left untouched.

QUP members also filed two other police reports in response to alleged vandalism of two of QUP's four Diag boards yesterday.

Twenty-five QUP members spent four hours on Sunday night posting fliers and chalking sidewalks, several group members said. The following morning, a number of QUP members said they witnessed the University's Grounds Paint Crew using power hoses to r

JOHN KRAFT/Daily LSA sophomore Ozell Hayes helps fellow Queer Unity Project member LSA junior Emily Marker tack up a QUP Diag board poster that was torn down yesterday.

emove the group's chalkings.

The chalkings and Diag board posters were intended to generate publicity for National Coming Out Week, which began Sunday and lasts until Saturday.

QUP members charged that by selectively removing QUP chalkings, members of the paint crew acted in a discriminatory fashion.

LSA junior Emily Marker, a member of the QUP planning team, said the insensitive alleged acts of University employees could serve as models for students.

"Now that the students have seen the University do it, why won't they do it themselves?" Marker asked. "We're supposed to be walking around in pride and I'm about to cry."

In a DPS general offense report filed QUP members filed Monday evening, an officer wrote that, "Sgt. Noffsinger advised that an unknown caller reported to U of M dispatch, earlier today, that there was a large amount of chalk graffiti on the diagonal. Sgt. Noffsinger advised dispatch then sent the Grounds Department to clean it up."

The second police report was filed by Marker around 4:50 a.m. yesterday after QUP member Jen Trudell, an LSA sophomore, saw one of the group's four Diag boards visible in a nearby trash can.

LSA junior Kenneth Jones filed the third report with DPS around 6 p.m. yesterday when several QUP members entered the Diag to replace their allegedly vandalized poster and noticed that another QUP Diag board had been removed and was on the ground behind the board.

Vice President for Student Affairs Maureen Hartford said she and several University administrators do not believe the QUP's chalking removal was intentionally offensive.

"Everybody else I've talked to on the administration has expressed the same sentiments," Hartford said.

Associate Vice President for University Relations Lisa Baker said Bylaw 14.06 of the University Board of Regents' Bylaws contains a clause stating that students cannot be discriminated against based on sexual orientation.

"If this indeed did happen, it's wrong and the idea of selectively removing someone's point of view is just plain wrong," Baker said, adding that she did not know the specifics of the three incidents.

Jones, a member of the QUP planning team, said the alleged acts on campus have dampened the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender community's celebration of National Coming Out Week because their identities are being discriminated against.

"It's ridiculous that once again, I'm being denied of who I am," Jones said. "It's sad when you have to go into your holiday when something happens. We can't even celebrate our holiday right because we're being broken up."

Hartford said that especially during Coming Out Week, members of the LGBT community need to know they are accepted and that the University benefits from their contributions.

"It's just upsetting," Hartford said. "I know if I felt upset, it's greatly magnified by students."

LSA sophomore Ozell Hayes, who is LGBT commission chair, said one of his most important reasons for attending the University - its commitment to accepting all individuals - is being jeopardized.

"I came to U of M and Ann Arbor because it was supposed to be so diverse," Hayes said, adding that he worries that the alleged vandalism and other acts may frighten other students from "coming out of the closet."

DPS spokesperson Elizabeth Hall said she was not yet notified of the police reports and DPS Director Leo Heatley was unavailable for comment yesterday. University groundskeepers also were unavailable for comment.

QUP members have tentatively rescheduled a rechalking of areas on central campus for tonight at 9.

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