EDITORS' CORNER
OPINION
University of California Los Angeles police have not “identified” any leads as part of its “hate crime” investigation into “wads of paper” thrown at someone, a spokeswoman told The College Fix.
The Fix asked for an update on the investigation opened last December after a UCLA student reported hearing a “homophobic slur” and being targeted with paper.
“On 12/24/24, at approximately 6:00PM, the victim was walking westbound on the north sidewalk of Weyburn Avenue as a black convertible with four occupants drove up next to the victim,” a UCLA Police Department crime alert stated. The police listed the attack as an “assault,” The Fix previously reported.
“One of the occupants yelled a homophobic slur, and another occupant threw wads of paper at the victim,” the department previously announced. The victim, who is a UCLA student, “was not struck” by the paper.
The perpetrators, believed to be “White or Middle Eastern males” have not been apprehended according to an update UCLA gave The Fix.
“To protect victim privacy, the UCLA police department generally does not release police reports unless there is a court order or other legal requirement to do so,” Alissa Fyfe told The Fix via email on Oct. 24. She is the chief of staff to the associate vice chancellor in the office of campus and community safety.
“The incident has been investigated, and no leads have been identified,” Fyfe said.
Campus police have had a tough time the past few years in apprehending the perpetrators of allegedly anti-LGBT hate crimes.
Harvard University police quietly closed its investigation into emails that were reportedly sent to LGBT students and staff in Aug. 2022. The university made no mention of the follow-up until The Fix asked. The emails declared that “Cambridge is MAGA Country.” This is obviously a reference to the Jussie Smollett noose scam, but campus police would not comment on whether the emails were a hoax.
Illinois State University officials also omitted key facts when discussing an investigation into an alleged anti-gay hate crime on campus last year.
The alleged victim is not even gay and told police he thought he was called “faggot” because he was riding a scooter. It was actually friends who were calling each other the phrase and alleged victim changed his story multiple times.
The school quietly closed the investigation until The Fix pressed for questions and even obtained an intervention from the state attorney general office to acquire the police report.
It is certainly possible someone had paper balls thrown at them at UCLA and that the perpetrators used a “homophobic slur.” It would be wrong to use a slur, but is hardly “assault” to throw paper balls at someone. Otherwise, every bored junior high boy sitting in class would need to be charged with assault.
Campus police should be more judicious in how they use terms and also be open to the public when cases are closed.
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