In Washington University’s first reported hate crime in more than 10 years, a student assaulted a peer on Residential Life property due to sexual orientation bias. The assault was listed in the University’s crime statistics from 2011, released earlier this month under the Clery Act.

The University City Police Department announced Wednesday morning that a female suspect confessed to vandalizing the cars of members of the Zeta Beta Tau (ZBT) fraternity. She was taken into custody and arrested for vandalism. Max LaVictoire, a sophomore living in the ZBT house at 7020 Forsyth Blvd., returned from spring break on Friday to find three swastikas keyed into his car and all of his tires slashed.

By etching a swastika into one of the cars, an already punishable act of vandalism became a potential hate crime. It doesn’t matter if the person actually believes what the swastika represents, she took out her aggression by using a symbol that should not be accepted in our society, no matter how angry you might become.

Max LaVictoire, a sophomore living in the Zeta Beta Tau (ZBT) house at 7020 Forsyth Blvd., returned from Spring Break Friday to find three swastikas keyed onto his car and all of his tires slashed.
He said that three other cars on Forsyth and in the ZBT lot –-all ZBT members–had their tires slashed as well