What Happened
On the evening of Saturday, October 29, 2022, a male graduate student was holding hands and walking with his male partner to Arrillaga Family Dining Commons. Another person walked past them in the opposite direction. As that person drew close to the couple, the person made a guttural sound and then spat at them. This was followed by the remark “disgusting people.”
Spitting on someone is a battery in the state of California (Penal Code section 242). Because the remark indicates the attempted battery was motivated by bias against the victims’ sexual orienations, it is also being classified a hate crime under the Clery Act. This type of egregious behavior is contrary to the values that Stanford holds and completely unacceptable in our community.
At this time the offending party(ies) is/are unknown.
What Is Being Done
Updated as of 12/15/2022
A PIH report was submitted on 12/14/2022.
The Department of Public Safety (DPS) has been notified. The Clery Act and the CA Education Code 67380 require the University to record the number of hate incidents occurring on campus. This incident meets the Clery definition for hate incidents, and has been recorded accordingly.
Due to this Clery definition the incident does not fall under protected speech and should the individual be found to be a student it would go forward through an individual conduct process.
Outreach has been made from the Graduate Life Office, individual faculty, and the Office of Inclusion, Community and Integrative Learning to support the targeted student.
What to Do
- If you have any information that may assist this incident, call DPS at 650.329.2413 (24/7) and ask to speak to an investigator.
- Students needing assistance are invited to reach out to these mental health resources and faculty/staff can reach out to the Faculty Staff Help Center.
- Queer Student Resources is a resource available for support of the LGBT+ community but will be closed from December 21 to January 3 during the university-wide closure.
- Self-care equals community care. If you want to learn more about homophobia and how you can address it, visit the Stanford Against Hate website.
- If you experience bias or discrimination, please file a Protected Identity Harm report.
