By Sarah Schweitzer, Globe Staff | October 17, 2006

An African-American student at Boston College has said university police failed to correctly investigate a case involving hate speech, prompting 100 students to rally this week on campus to protest the university’s response.

The alleged incident — in which a white student shouted a racial slur at the African-American student and four of her friends last week in the dormitory where they all lived — is being treated as hate speech, said Jack Dunn, a school spokesman.

The students, as a precautionary measure, have been transferred to other residence halls, Dunn said. He declined to identify which students had been moved.

Dunn said BC police are investigating the case and will forward their findings to an administrative hearing board overseen by the dean of students.

The student guidebook defines a ‘‘bias-motivated offense’’ as one ‘‘committed against an individual because of his or her race, ethnicity, religious affiliation, gender, or sexual orientation.’’ Students found guilty of committing a bias-motivated offense can face suspension or dismissal from the university.

Dunn said the only reported bias case on campus in recent years was the painting of a swastika in a campus office over the summer. That case is under investigation, he said.

Dunn said that a quarter of the school’s 8,900 undergraduates are Hispanic, African American, Asian, or Native American.
The students allegedly involved in the purported incident Thursday could not be contacted for comment Tuesday. Inés Maturana Sendoya, the director of Boston College’s minority student programs, did not return phone calls Tuesday seeking comment.