The A.S. Council passed a resolution on hate crimes at its Oct. 24 meeting.

Eleanor Roosevelt College Sophomore Senator Tom Chapman wrote the resolution. He said he feels that hate crimes need to be reported more often and monitored more closely at UCSD and other UC campuses.

“”UCSD’s police have said one hate crime happened last year, the Attorney General of California said that four hate crimes happened last year and University of California police said six hate crimes and six hate incidents were reported last year,”” Chapman said. “”Obviously, there is a discrepancy in their reports.””

The resolution calls for hiring someone to ensure that hate crimes would not be under-reported or ignored due to ambiguity in what constitutes a hate crime.

Chapman is concerned that the UCSD police may not be accounting for all hate crimes that occur on campus.

“”The UCSD police seem to be under-reporting hate crimes on our campus,”” he said. “”UCSD police do not report ‘Hate Bias, Vandalism or Intimidation,’ which make up 60 percent of California’s hate crimes.””

The resolution states that hate crimes are inconsistent with the UCSD Principles of Community and therefore the UCSD student body and the A.S. Council should not allow them to occur.

The UCSD Principles of Community states “”We reject acts of discrimination based on race, ethnicity, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion, and political beliefs, and, we will confront and appropriately respond to such acts.””

The A.S. Council passed a resolution earlier this year in response the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, in which they resolved to promote a hate-free campus and to work to uphold the UCSD Principles of Community.

This resolution offers a practical response to that resolution, calling for specific action against hate crimes.

“”We felt like it was important that we make a statement directly in response to hate crimes and hate speech,”” said A.S. President Jeff Dodge.

Dodge emphasized the importance of taking specific measures against hate crimes and hate speech at UCSD.

“”This is something that our council would have taken a stance on regardless [of what happened Sept. 11],”” Dodge said.

Dodge said that hate crimes had taken place at UCSD long before Sept. 11 and the hate crimes that followed Sept. 11 allowed the council to put greater emphasis on the importance of a hate-free campus.