Hate Crime at University of Virginia Under Investigation
Feature Story by civilrights.org staff - March 18, 2003
A second-year University of Virginia (UVA) student and candidate for student council president, Daisy Myong-Hui Lundy of African-American and Korean descent, was assaulted February 27 in what is being treated as a hate crime.
After receiving threatening phone calls from an unidentified man, Lundy says she was grabbed by the hair, slammed against the steering wheel of her car and affronted by a racial slur denouncing her candidacy in a student government election.
Lundy told police the assailant said, "No one wants a nigger to be president." Lundy suffered a mild concussion, a sprained ankle, and torn ligaments in her knee. She was released from the hospital the morning after the attack and was able to attend the Wednesday afternoon rally on her behalf, wearing a full-leg brace.
The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
has called on the Attorney General to immediately investigate this possible hate crime incident.
Angry students and faculty members from the UVA School of Law formed an on-campus coalition, the Committee for Progress on Race (CPR) to condemn the assault. The group has announced plans for definite actions against racially motivated hate crimes, as well as an awareness-raising campaign regarding problems surrounding race at UVA. They raised $750 from law students and faculty to add to the reward leading to the arrest of Lundy?s attacker.
"Hate crimes are an especially ugly violation of the individual victim's rights, but they also inflict a unique injury on the community," said Anne M. Coughlin, a law professor. "Our community must stand together and denounce this hate crime and all hate crimes. And that is exactly what we are going to do."
The University Police are treating the investigation as a hate crime, and are working from previous reports Daisy Lundy made to the police about receiving threatening phone calls the weekend before the assault. UVA Police Department Captain Michael Coleman stated, "There?s no doubt it was a hate crime." A suspect has still not yet been identified and arrests have been made.
