So Black Kids Are Letting White Kids Chain Them Up By The Neck in San Jose St? SMGDH HATE CRIME??

http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-courts/ci_24597170/sjsu-hate-crime-naacp-call-felony-charges-against

SJSU hate crime: NAACP to call for felony charges against accused students
By Katy Murphy

kmurphy@bayareanewsgroup.com

POSTED: 11/25/2013 10:59:57 AM PST | UPDATED: ABOUT 3 HOURS AGO

SAN JOSE -- San Jose State's president on Monday took personal responsibility for not intervening sooner to stop the alleged abuse of a black student by his white roommates -- who had displayed a Confederate flag in the room -- or to suspend the students before they were criminally charged last week.

"By failing to recognize the meaning of a Confederate flag, intervene earlier to stop the abuse, or impose sanctions as soon as the gravity of the behavior became clear, we failed him. I failed him," SJSU President Mo Qayoumi said in a statement released Monday morning.

An independent expert will soon be named to examine "how such abuse could have gone unchecked or undetected for weeks," and to propose reforms, Qayoumi said.

He added, "Some anger is being directed toward residence hall advisers (RAs) for failing to recognize or act on warning signs of abuse. It is our job as professional educators to help them recognize these signs. Their failures are our failures. We must do a better job of training them, and we will."

Qayoumi is scheduled to appear this afternoon with civil rights leaders before the iconic "black power" salute statues where San Jose State students rallied last week against racism. NAACP leaders said they will call for more serious criminal charges against the white freshmen accused of tormenting their black roommate in their dorm suite.

"The community will not stand idly by and allow for any student of color to be terrorized simply due to the color of his skin," said Reverend Jethroe Moore II, president of the San Jose/Silicon Valley NAACP, in a statement announcing the news conference. "This is not simple hazing or bullying, this is obviously racially based terrorism targeted at their African American roommate. The behavior of these three students warrants nothing less than felony charges."

The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office filed misdemeanor hate crime and battery charges last week against Joseph Bomgardner, 19; Logan Beaschler and Colin Warren, both 18; and a fourth student who is under 18.

The NAACP says the District Attorney's Office should increase the misdemeanors to felonies and to add false imprisonment charges.

The freshmen are accused of taunting their black roommate for weeks this semester, displaying a Confederate flag in their eight-person suite, barricading him in his room and fastening a bicycle lock around his neck. Investigators, who found ? symbols in the apartment, say the students later acknowledged the relentless harassment but explained their actions as mere "pranks."

It appears that at least two resident assistants -- students in charge of enforcing student housing policies -- had known about the flag but merely asked for it to be taken out of public view and didn't investigate further, according to the police report.

The vice president for student affairs said university police quickly launched an investigation as soon as the problems were reported, identified the case as a hate crime and forwarded it to the district attorney's office.

Two of the four students were immediately removed from the dormitory; a third was originally thought to be a bystander, and it's unclear why the fourth remained in the suite until last week.

All four of the accused students will remain suspended from campus while the case makes its way through the university's student conduct process, the SJSU administration said.

The NAACP has said it will ask the campus administration to "conduct a thorough investigation into University Housing to determine how this situation continued for so long and why no immediate action to rectify the situation was taken."

President Mo Qayoumi is expected to appear Monday with Moore and other civil rights leaders at the statues commemorating Tommie Smith's and John Carlos's 1968 "black power" salute at the 1968 Olympics. He has already promised a full investigation and said that the findings would be made public. The university will also hold town hall meetings in December.

This will be the president's first public appearance since the news came to light last week. Qayoumi has issued written statements to convey his outrage about the allegations, which he described as "utterly inconsistent with our long cherished history of tolerance, respect for diversity and personal civility."

Other leaders, including CSU Chancellor Tim White, have publicly condemned the alleged bullying.

"As a CSU community, we must confront honestly and directly incidents such as the one at San Jose State," White said, calling the incident "a clarion call" for vigilance at all 23 CSU campuses.

Assembly Speaker John Perez released a statement over the weekend saying, "I can assure President Qayoumi that the Legislature will work with Chancellor White to keep a close eye on his actions, so that every student knows that these unconscionable acts will not be tolerated anywhere, anytime, and to ensure that if these allegations are proven true that these individuals are prosecuted to the full extent of the law."

Under state law, hate crimes may be charged as misdemeanors, which carry a maximum sentence of one year in jail, or felonies. Authorities said they consider such factors as the sophistication of the crime, the previous criminal records of the accused, the severity of their actions and the sentence a judge is likely to impose.

In a statement on Saturday, District Attorney Jeff Rosen said his office had deep respect for the NAACP and that it shares "its abhorrence for hate crimes" and "its desire for justice."

Still, Rosen said he believes his office has filed "the appropriate charges in this case, based upon the evidence."

Reporters Brandon Bailey and Tracey Kaplan contributed to this story. Follow Katy Murphy at Twitter.com/katymurphy.