The students found the threat posted steps from their bedroom doors.
It was left at the lounge room of the fourth floor of Queen’s University’s Chown Hall dormitory, home to a community of Indigenous students and their allies. Shortly before, Indigenous and Pride flags had been stolen from the common room’s walls, and the students had posted messages pleading for their return.
Instead, the students received a typed note.
“We took your flags and you wailed and cried … Now you’ll pay the price,” it read. “Lock your doors and hide your keys. We’ll scalp you all, we’ll make you bleed.”
The October 2019 threat rattled students, some of whom had moved to university hoping to escape the bigotry and intolerance they faced in their hometowns. The stolen Pride flag had belonged to Siân Ruttan. It was from her first Pride she had attended, and she had written her name and phone number on it.
“A lot of people weren’t feeling safe,” said Ruttan, then a first-year student studying music and education. “I just remember this one person telling me that she thought she left all of this at home, and that broke my heart.”
Read the full article on Toronto Star: https://www.thestar.com/news/investigations/2023/03/10/the-hidden-hate-on-campus-we-tracked-incidents-at-colleges-and-universities-and-found-a-growing-problem.html
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