The Campus Security Act of 1990 as amended in October 1998 requires that all of the crimes included in the 1999 statistics that manifest evidence of prejudice based on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, ethnicity, or disability be reported as hate crimes in the annual campus security report. Miami University has chosen to classify and report all sex offenses as hate crimes because the victim is intentionally selected due to the victim's actual or perceived gender.
Hateful acts occur in every community.
The strongest action to combat the meanspiritedness of those few who perpetuate this behavior is a community that commits itself by loudly and publicly denouncing such acts. Action steps Speak out when jokes or comments are made that are hateful or demean others because of their race, religion, gender, or sexual preference. Ask yourself if you use derogatory, degrading, or offensive terms in describing others and if you avoid people who are different from yourself. If you are the victim of a harassing or nuisance phone call, save the e-mail message or voice mail message. Report the incident to police immediately.