A Swarthmore College college student and a friend visiting from UPenn, both male, were attacked by a group of teens (four boys and a girl) on the Philadelphia-area campus in what police are calling a possible anti-gay attack.
H. Elizabeth Braun, dean of students, wrote a letter Tuesday to the college community saying both victims are OK after being treated for their injuries, both on campus and later at the hospital.
“I am writing both out of concern for the victims and campus safety and because I have been made aware of some additional facts and corrections since the initial (public safety) alert went out that I want to share with you,” she stated.
Braun indicated the Swarthmore student and his friend were on Mertz Field early Sunday when they were assaulted by a group of five males and one female. The initial alert indicated the attack happened when the college males were on Magill walk, near the train tracks, and were met by four males and one female.
“Our student has also shared that he and his friend were being affectionate with one another when they were approached by the high school-aged students. While it still isn’t clear what prompted the assault on our student and his friend, it does appear that homophobia could have been a factor in the attack,” Braun wrote. “I know that you share my distress and concern that any type of physical assault would take place on our campus, particularly one that may have been motivated by hate. I know that you will join me in condemning this act of violence on our campus and I appreciate that many of you have already expressed your concern to me.”
Last time this site made mention of Swarthmore, it was about students’ aggressive National Coming Out Day campaign, which had the campus marked up with:
one picture showed a woman with a strap-on fucking a woman we can only assume is her girlfriend. The text below read: “Anal sex is for everyone.” Another drawing, placed conveniently outside of the dining hall, simply illustrated a vagina. Not surprisingly, many students found the pictures offensive, sparking a debate over the so-called limits of “coming out”.
jason
This is yet another example of the homophobia of modern youth. These young people are inspired by homophobes like Eminem and rap/hip hop, which are staples of the black community.
Perhaps the most vile thing about this is that there was a young woman involved in the attack. I’d personally like to smack her in the mouth.
McMike
Gay men need to be prepared to fight back. Work out, get pissed and put these people down when attacked.
Soupy
Mike, that sounds like the plot of Kill Bill. I don’t have the time to work on my swordplay that extensively.
jnk
@McMike: It is stupid to say that we should fight violence with violence. Your comment makes it seems like it is the students’ fault they were attacked. It was an unfair fight: 6 on 2.
ihatestupidpeople
@jason: Your brilliant solution is to fight homophobia with racism? Eyeroll
This disgusting attack was committed by knucklehead children who should be prosecuted for assault.
Danny
Certainly explains why the Second Amendment (right to bear arms) comes right after the First Amendment (freedom of expression).
I wish the police in the USA did what European police do – they send out male cops undercover as couples to see if they are safe out on the streets; it would be great if USA cops did this to make certain taxpayers are safe to walk down the street simply holding hands.
zeb
Is that guy who wrote #1 totes insane?? townies are always doing bad things to people on campus and thats not because of music but because theyre jealous….no hope no future
#6 I hope the cops over there protect people who dont pay taxes 2!!
The sane Francis
For starters, the kids who attacked aren’t even a part of that community whatsoever. Supposedly, they were rowdy kids who were rejected from entering a frat party, and then asked these two guys for a beer. When they rejected/said they didn’t have beer, they attacked the 2 guys. Obviously a homophobic attack, but even more than that it’s an attack of young punks with nothing better to do than basically terrorize others and be idiots.
Things like this are very scary to read. Swathmore is a liberal school so it shows you that we aren’t safe anywhere, gay people, and really anyone. The worst part about these attacks are these are people between 13-25 committing most of these crimes, whether they are hate crimes, or simply attacks against innocent people for no reason. These are teens, who are supposedly supposed to be the enlightened ones, being hateful, causing terror, and ruining lives. While people are focused on other things we have allowed the youth of our country to go completely out of control. Very scary times.
The sane Francis
Oh yeah, supposedly the two college dudes asked if the teens were “ville rats” and called them “drunks”. So, I’m obviously not going to defend these young thugs, the fact they shouldn’t have been where they were, the fact they were causing trouble through the night, the fact they were under-aged drinking, and the hate crime, but yeah, it wasn’t completely un-instigated.