Worcester College Investigates Alleged LGBTQ Attack On Campus

WORCESTER, MA—An incident is under investigation at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester after an alleged attack on an LGBTQ student.

The victim, who identifies as LGBTQ, was allegedly called a homophobic slur and then punched by another student last weekend.

"This was completely unprovoked," Mithra Salmassi, student government association co-officer of diversity at College of the Holy Cross, told Patch on Friday. "To the best of my knowledge, an investigation is being conducted into finding the attacker, whose identity was unknown at the time of the assault."

The dean of students and the president of the college both reached out to the student body expressing their condemnation of "the increase in bigotry we've seen as a society as a whole," Salmassi said.

"Over the weekend, the college received a report of an incident of anti-LGBTQ violence on campus," said spokesperson John Hill in a statement. "The Department of Public Safety immediately began an investigation, which is still ongoing. While we are treating this matter very seriously and the Department of Public Safety is working hard to investigate, we are unable to provide or confirm any more details in order to maintain the privacy of the person who reported."

In a message to the Holy Cross community, Rev. Philip L. Boroughs, S.J., president, wrote, "We are in a time of increasing intolerance, hate and bigotry. While we strive to build a community marked by respect, Holy Cross does not exist apart from these realities. The reports of violence over the last week have put this reality into stark relief for all of us."

The college held a vigil of solidarity in which Father Boroughs and several students spoke, and prayed, against hate crimes. The victim is recovering and "doing OK," another student told the Telegram and Gazette.

"We want to hold the administration and the student body accountable to change the culture of toxic heteronormativity that exists on this campus," said Salmassi. "If any individual feels unsafe on campus, it means that something is lacking."

The 2016 Hate Crime report for Massachusetts is the most recent data released by the state. The report showed that the Executive Office of Public Safety & Security (EOPSS) received 391 reports of incidents of hate crime (down from 411 in 2015) from 70 municipal police departments, 11 campus police agencies, one hospital and the MBTA. In addition, 267 agencies said they had “zero reports” (indicating that they had experienced no bias-motivate incidents) and there were 60 non-reporting agencies, down from 70 in 2015 and 105 in 2014.

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