Why didn’t the University of Iowa tell us about the Marcus Owens hate crime?
A student was hospitalized after an attack Saturday night, and #explainiowa is calling for clarification
At the University of Iowa it is an unfortunate commonality to get an email from UIowa Hawk Alert. Recently, Hawk Alerts have been used to inform students about things like sexual assaults, tornado drills, or suspicious packages. They are in place to keep the university community aware of the circumstances around them and to keep us safe. Students also receive Crime Alerts from The Department of Public Safety, usually accompanied by a “trigger warning.”
Yet on Saturday night a black student was hospitalized after being beaten in downtown Iowa City, and the University and Department of Public Safety have been disconcertingly quiet. As the news of this reported hate crime spreads, students and community members have adapted the hashtag #explainiowa to beg Iowa City to not only inform the public of the frightening reality of hate crime, but to explain why they have failed to do so for over three days now.
Just like so many other students, it’s a daily routine for me to scroll absent mindedly through Twitter before I go to sleep. Yet amidst all the tweets about finals stress and Beyonce, the last thing I expected to see last night was that a serious hate crime had occurred at my school and was becoming a trending hashtag before I had heard anything else about it.
The first tweet that I saw was this from the University of Iowa, a clearly delayed and frustratingly obscure tweet saying that “we will inform the campus community as soon as we know more.”
Apparently the University does not realize that it is 2016. That hate crime will not be tolerated, and its presence at our school can not be simply ignored until they decide to confront it.
After clicking on the #explainiowa I was flooded by fear and outrage that, at 2 am on Twitter, I was finding out more about violence at my school than anywhere else.
Among numerous reports of the incident available online, here is one statement from abc7chicago:
“A 19-year-old University of Iowa student from suburban Naperville was severely beaten over the weekend, and his family said the incident was racially motivated.
Freshman Marcus Owens required nearly a dozen stitches to his lip, sustained a damaged eye socket and had his front teeth knocked out. He was released from the hospital Monday night.”
The attack is reported to have happened Saturday night outside of a bar, when three white men began yelling racial slurs and beating him.
There is no doubt in my mind that this even will start an important conversation here at the University of Iowa, and everywhere. This story has already made national news, and it is one that needs to be told to students not through Twitter, but through the people who it truly calls to attention to change the culture and policy here on campus.
We need Hawk Alerts to tell us about violent crime. We need reliable sources who will not ignore the fact that hate crime is a reality on this campus. We need someone to please #explainiowa.
A photo of the victim featured on nydailynews.com