An administrative hearing will convene today to examine the allegations of racism and details surrounding a fight in Lewis Hall earlier this month.
The hearing will consist of five panelists who will determine whether the university's code of conduct was breached during a confrontation in the dorm's main lounge in the early-morning hours of April 9, when a group of Korean students allege that a freshman started a fight with them and yelled racial slurs. The panelists will consider testimony from those who observed or have other relevant knowledge relating to the incident itself, and will decide whether disciplinary action should be taken against those involved.
Meanwhile, two Lewis Hall residents who witnessed parts of the incident told the Daily this week that the freshman did, in fact, use racial slurs.
The night of the scuffle, the residents were studying while sitting on sofas on the upper level of Lewis Hall's main lounge, from where they could see both entrances to the building and part of the lounge; a wall blocked their view of the Korean students.
The two residents confirmed the Korean students' account that a belligerent freshman spat at them and insulted their ethnicity as they prepared before 2 a.m. on April 9 for an upcoming culture show. The Korean students are all members of the Korean Students Association (KSA).
The two residents requested anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the subject.
KSA members said that the freshman drunkenly approached them, mocked a dance five of them were practicing and shouted racial slurs at the group. The racially charged remarks came after a fight between the freshman and the KSA members, the latter said; both parties have said the other side started the scuffle.
"'Go back to China," "you guys are a bunch of chinks; you don't even belong here" and "f--k you. F--k you, I could take all of you. I'll kill you all," were among the statements the freshman said, according to the Korean students.
Both of the residents said that all of the statements that the KSA members have claimed the freshman shouted sounded accurate.
"The one that I remember the most vividly was, 'If I were from China, I would've killed my f--king self by now,'" one of the residents said.
On April 10, the freshman told the Daily in a statement that he yelled obscenities, but he did not mention uttering racial epithets or being drunk.
The residents said they saw the freshman standing above the KSA group, on the upper level of the lounge. He shouted the slurs and spat down onto the KSA members, they said, adding that his girlfriend was trying to pull him away.
The two residents added that, after the scuffle, one female KSA member approached the freshman. She "was pretty adamant about wanting an apology," one of the residents said. The residents said they stayed in the lounge that night until everyone else had left.
The freshman's girlfriend declined to comment when reached two weeks ago; a friend of the freshman who was in the lounge two weeks ago provided a statement to the Daily that largely corroborated the freshman's account.
The Daily is withholding the freshman's name because the administration has not taken any action against him.
The freshman could not be reached for comment yesterday evening.
But last week, he did elaborate on his injuries stemming from the incident; in his statement, he said he received "bodily injuries."
He said that, as a result of the fight, both of his elbows were skinned, his right shoulder was cut up and skinned, the area behind his ear was swollen and scratched, one of his knees was cut and his neck was swollen.
The Daily was unable to confirm this account, though; in his statement, the freshman stated that photographs of his injuries were available, but last week he declined to provide those pictures.
One of the KSA member's faces was scratched in the fight, and at least one of the members' shirts were ripped.
Hundreds of students, faculty members, administrators and visitors from outside the university turned out for a rally on April 16 on the Tisch Library patio, decrying racism, with several calling the incident a hate crime.
Meanwhile, the administration has been careful not to comment directly about the alleged bias incident until an active judicial investigation into the events of the morning of April 9 concludes.
Today's hearing comes after administrators have, over the past couple weeks, interviewed and reviewed written statements from the students directly involved. They have also gone over reports submitted by two Lewis Hall residential assistants -- one who reported the incident over WebCenter as a bias incident and one who turned in a separate report after interviewing many of the students involved that night.
The hearing's panel consists of two students from the Tufts Community Union Judiciary and three faculty members or administrators; as of early yesterday afternoon, the participants had not yet been confirmed, nor had the panel's start time or whether the public could attend, according to Dean of Student Affairs Bruce Reitman.
No one filed a formal complaint about the incident to his office, Reitman said, but the university still decided to investigate the incident by holding an administrative hearing.
"There have been many reports, or witness statements, if you will, that have been filed, as opposed to complaints, and that is the substance of the investigation," Reitman said.
After the hearing ends, the panel will convene to decide what, if any, further actions the university should take; this could happen right away, Reitman said, although he added that the timeframe is up to the panelists.
The two Lewis Hall residents interviewed for this article said that they had contacted Reitman and Judicial Affairs Officer Veronica Carter two times since April 11, but had not heard back from either as of yesterday afternoon. Reitman said early yesterday afternoon that he had not seen any correspondence from them.
"It's my understanding that Judicial Affairs has gotten back to everyone who says they have direct knowledge," he said early yesterday afternoon.
