The College Fix

UPDATED

A student at Wright State University who said she is the victim of a racist act no longer wants to speak to the police.

Campus law enforcement has also closed the investigation due to a lack of suspects and video evidence, according to police reports obtained by The College Fix through a public record request.

A resident of Hawthorn Hall at the public Ohio university “contacted the Emergency Communication Center (ECC) in regards to speaking with an Officer about her white board being knocked off of her door and a racial slur [the N-word] being written on her door in black marker,” a police report for the November 29 incident stated. The photo evidence is pictured.

The alleged victim, who remains unidentified, “stated that the slur was removed from her door prior to Officers responding to the scene.” The female student said it likely happened while she was away on Thanksgiving break. She only learned that her door had been vandalized due to a group chat shared by members of the residence hall floor.

The police report says another person also allegedly had a whiteboard knocked off and a racial slur written, though it does not specify which one. The report lists a “V1,” presumably for “victim one”, who is black. Curiously, the second alleged victim is listed as white. The police report refers to “the racial slur” written, implying that the N-word was written on both a white girl’s door and a black girl’s door.

The alleged first victim identified only one person she has had conflict with but said it is not likely that student would do it.

MORE: Check out the Campus Cancel Culture Database

The police closed the investigation on December 11 after the primary victim refused to talk to the police any further. The report is difficult to interpret at times due to the use of redaction.

“Ms. [redacted] stated ‘she could name some people that would possibly do it, but that she moved out and she would like it if we stopped calling her,’ Ms. then hung-up the phone,” the police officer wrote.

“There are no suspects. Race is unknown,” spokesperson Seth Bauguess confirmed to The Fix via email. “There are no leads or suspects at this time nor camera footage that would allow officers to investigate further.”

Campus police have ignored requests for comment in the past two weeks. The Fix emailed Director of Public Safety Kurt Holden and Lieutenant David Cox but neither responded to emails.

The police department still has not responded as of the afternoon of February 16, but after publication, Bauguess reached out again. He said the university was unhappy that The Fix speculated that the incident could have been a hoax. He called the theory baseless and asked for the following statement to be added.

“At no time during its investigation did Wright State label, refer to or consider this incident a hoax. The university considered this a serious matter, investigated as such, and most certainly does not believe it to have been a hoax,” Bauguess said.

At no time in this article has The Fix said Wright State called it a hoax or said the university considered it an unserious matter.

Incident has the markings of a hoax

The incident appears very likely to be a hoax. Many hate crime hoaxes follow the same pattern of a door allegedly being attacked and a racial slur being written.

Dorm rooms and residence halls are ripe for hate crime hoaxes because cameras are rarely positioned inside each floor for privacy reasons. This means that the police are not likely to find the perpetrator/victim.

Consider the student at Wayne State University who egged her own dorm room door or the Southern Illinois University student who faces criminal charges for leaving racist and hateful notes on her own door.

Others go further, including lighting their own residence hall on fire and sometimes students create multiple hoaxes by combining stories together, too.

MORE: Hate crime hoaxes of 2021

Editor’s note: The article has been updated with comments from Wright State and corrected the spelling on Seth Bauguess’ name. The author of the piece also added further commentary.

IMAGE: Wright State University

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