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4/25/01 Duke Daily Chronicle: "Student alleges race-based acts," An Asian-American student reported a hate crime which occurred on April 1, someone vandalized his room, stole about $100 cash and left a note bearing a racial epithet. An e-mail by Asian Students Association President Patty Chen and ASA vice president of political affairs, sophomore Christina Hsu, calls Campus Police's investigation "half-hearted and sloppy" and criticizes the investigator for pressuring the student to admit he committed the crime himself. Duke University Police Department, as a matter of policy, does not release details of an ongoing investigation, but Maj. Robert Dean said the case has been handled appropriately. The student, freshman David Lin, maintains that he was mistreated by DUPD, describing feelings of betrayal and disappointment. "At an institution of this academic caliber, before coming, I felt this would be the least of my worries," Lin said of his Duke experience. "I hope to be viewed and judged as a student, not an Asian student, but a student." He said he may transfer to a different college because of the stress the incident has placed on his family. Lin described a series of events that began with a March 30 Chemistry 12 test. He claims he took the test but that someone removed it from the pile and placed his name at the top of another test. Professor of Chemistry James Bonk declined to comment because the case is still under investigation. Lin said he then took a one-day trip to Washington, D.C. and upon his return Saturday, found his Aycock Dormitory room locked as he had left it. After entering the room, he said he found his closet door open with the light on, his belongings strewn across the floor and his class picture book open to his name, which had been crossed out. Beside his name were the words, "Chink, it's time to leave." Lin said he feels the initial investigation of the incident was cursory and that follow-up by Campus Police and the Office of Student Development was inadequate. He said he was particularly distressed by an April 20 meeting in which he said the investigator pressured him to confess to the crime. "[The investigator] came out and started saying that I did all this to myself-- the hate crime and the exam fraud," Lin said. He said the investigator implied that he had vandalized his own room in order to cover up his tampering of the chemistry test. Lt. Sara-Jane Raines, who investigated the incident in question, would not comment specifically on the case. "We treat hate crimes very differently than we treat other cases," she said. "We treat them much more sensitively." She said she expects this investigation to last well into the summer. Lin also received two harassing e-mails--which he did not report officially-- that had been sent March 30 after the test. The first message, which the student provided to The Chronicle, includes a death threat, tells him to "go back to Shanghai," and says, "things ain't so EZ ne-more mr hotshot? thErE goez Ur A!' in chem." The second, with subject heading "over soon HHAHAHAHAHAHA," describes an incident of decapitation at Yosemite National Park. Office of Information Technology security officer Christopher Cramer confirmed that the two e-mails likely had been sent from unauthenticated computers --those that do not require a log-in--in Perkins Library and Lilly Library. Chen, a junior, said she is troubled by the incident and that the University should have a specific, well-publicized protocol for handling racially-motivated hate crimes. Hate crimes technically fall under Duke's harassment policy, which Dean says officers learn during their training. He also stressed that DUPD trains its officers to deal specifically with hate crimes. 3/21/01 Duke Daily Chronicle: "Asians
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