Acts of intolerance at USD

Center for Inclusion and Diversity and an all-gender restroom were targeted

Glenn McDonell / Asst. News Editor / The USD Vista

A campus-wide email sent out by the office of the Dean of Students on March 15 alerted the USD community to ongoing investigations into two separate incidents from earlier in the week deemed acts of intolerance by the Department of Public Safety. The message indicated that one of the perpetrators made a call to the Center of Inclusion and Diversity laden with repeated racial slurs, and that another vandalized the all-gender restroom on the fourth floor of the Student Life Pavilion.  

During her address to the Associated Students (AS) Senate on March 14, President Natasha Salgado brought the first of the two incidents to the attention of those gathered at the meeting and condemned the phone call an attack on the community.  

“I would like to make you all aware that a blatant racist attack took place on our campus this week,” Salgado said. “An individual called our center and went on a racist rant attacking our black students here at USD.” 

The AS President then explained the call in further detail and identified the staff member on the other end of the line as Lenee’ Battle Johnson, who serves as the Executive Assistant to the Associate Provost of the Center of Inclusion and Diversity, located in Maher Hall.  

“Lenee’ Johnson picked up and the caller asked to verify if he was calling the office of diversity, and she responded ‘yes.’ He then asked if this was ‘where all the n-words would be having their events,’ she said ‘pardon me,’ and he repeated the n-word over and over again, and said ‘I’m sick of all these n-words.’” 

According to Salgado, the individual’s use of a blocked number prevented Public Safety from identifying the caller or determining whether the call originated from campus. Following her description of the dialogue between Johnson and the blocked caller, Salgado continued with her criticism of the act.  

“I want to reaffirm that any and all acts of racism, bigotry, or prejudice, no matter what context, simply cannot and will not be tolerated at any level at this institution, this campus community, or this organization,” Salgado said. 

As of now, Johnson has declined to provide a comment to The USD Vista on her conversation with the anonymous caller.  

The other incident from last week, which the administration’s community update labeled as vandalism in the SLP’s all-gender restroom, involved alleged damage to two of the paper towel dispensers mounted to the walls by the sinks.  

According to Stacey Williams, who serves as the Associate Director of Diversity and Inclusion Student Commons, the commons staff was first informed Wednesday when a student took notice of the damage and alerted those in the office, which is adjacent to the all-gender restroom.  

“The student saw the paper dispensers pulled off the wall and went and informed staff,” Williams said.  “They were on opposing sides and were both removed. (Facilities Management) has narrowed it down to a four-hour window from when facilities was cleaning and when it got reported.” 

Williams, who works with LGBTQ+ identified students in the commons, then alerted two of the student leaders of the Pee in Peace committee, a Changemaker Hub funded Social Change Corp Team which primarily aims to promote the continued construction of gender-inclusive restrooms on the USD campus.  

On March 18, the committee released a statement condemning the incident and calling for immediate action on the part of the administration in identifying the perpetrator.  

“As a group dedicated to the eradication of baseless bigotry, this onslaught of hatred has made it clear that now, more than ever, we must embrace solidarity and take decisive action towards making all marginalized people feel welcome,” the statement read. “It is our hope that the University of San Diego administration acts quickly to determine the source of such a hateful action (if possible).” 

Sophomore Paulina Sierra, who collaborated with other committee members in writing the Pee in Peace statement, was one of the two students contacted by Williams in the wake of the incident. After learning the details involving the paper towel dispensers, Sierra said she believes the act was meant to deliberately target gender non-conforming students.  

“(Williams) told us the paper towels had been knocked off the walls,” Sierra said. “While it wasn’t clear whether or not this was intentionally targeting the trans and non-binary community, the evidence felt damning.” 

Sierra pointed to the differences between the restroom in question and other all-gender restrooms in supporting her suspicions.

“The all-gender restroom on the fourth floor of the SLP is the most open about what it is,” Sierra said.  

The restroom is one of seven similarly designated gender-inclusive restrooms on the USD campus.  It was converted in the fall of 2015 from a men’s room with two stalls and a urinal into its current form through the addition of a female symbol to the door and a supply of tampons in a basket near the sink.  This restroom differs from the other all-gender restrooms on campus, which are typically single-stalled “family rooms” in less accessible parts of campus.

Senior Brandon Orzolek has been advocating for the expansion of gender-inclusive restroom facilities since his first year when he and others advocated for LGBTQ+ issues in cooperation with the greater Concerned Students @ USD coalition in 2015.  Orzolek views the recent damages in the fourth floor bathroom as a sign of pushback to the Pee in Peace cause.

“Seeing the vandalism of this space we’ve worked so hard to create for transgender and gender non-binary students is disheartening to say the least,” Orzolek said. “This is an affront to all of the progress we’ve made thus far.” 

Despite the disillusionment associated with this incident, Orzolek says that the act has also acted to strengthened the morale of those who are working for increased LGBTQ+ inclusion.  

“While the acts of intolerance were a setback, we wish the perpetrator to know that these actions only served to strengthen our resolve to make a lasting change,” Orzolek said. “We will persist until USD becomes a place in which transgender and non-binary students feel completely comfortable.” 

Following last Wednesday’s incident in the SLP, the office of the Dean of Students posted a notice on the restroom door detailing the definition of an “act of intolerance” for the purposes of response procedures and instructing anyone with information regarding such acts to contact the office immediately. 

While the motives of the acts and the identities of the perpetrators are still not clear, the dual incidents served as a reminder to the community that the identities of marginalized individuals remain susceptible to attack.