On Monday, Feb. 26, the Ukrainian Student Association of UConn (USA) announced via its Instagram account that it had been the victim of another hate incident on campus. The incident centered around a Ukrainian flag memorial, placed on the two-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine last Friday, which was defaced by a number of Russian flags. Additional fliers and black and orange ribbons meant to symbolize the Ribbon of Saint George, a symbol of the Russian military, were tied around trees and lampposts across campus as well. These incidents follow a similar episode of hateful vandalism last week, in which Ukrainian blue and yellow ribbons were defaced with the letter “Z,” another symbol of the Russian military.
Kate Koval, a sixth semester psychology major and President of the UConn Ukrainian Student Association, explained the process the organization has gone through with university administrators and safety personnel since the incident, expressing frustration in the administration’s lack of action on the matter.
“Yesterday we met with the Dean of Students, Associate Dean, Lieutenant UCPD & Director of Community Standards. Our club advisor Solomiya Ivakhiv and UCUF (Ukrainian Catholic University Foundation) representative Oles Kuzma joined us to emphasize their fear for our safety. We emphasized the DIRECT threat proposed by the ‘Z’ symbols. All representatives of the administration claimed that all of our concerns will not amount to much since the offender’s actions are protected by ‘freedom of speech,’” Koval said. “UCPD told us they are actively looking at footage, the process may take months. Community Standards and Police agreed that if they identify a student in these offenses, there will be some sort of punishment, but ONLY because they broke the student code of conduct by going against SU rules (as the space we had was reserved for the flag exhibit).”
Koval also spoke to the meaning of the “Z” symbol to the Ukrainian community, and how she feels this symbol is creating a disconnect between students and administrators. She also expressed her fear on campus since the defacing incident.
“We emphasized the direct threat that ‘Z’ symbolizes, we did not feel that the administration fully understood the gravity of the meaning of the symbol as a representation of killing Ukrainians. We don’t feel safe on campus. We are scared to wear the Ukrainian ribbons on our backpacks because there are propaganda posters across the campus calling us Nazis, degrading Ukrainian experience and targeting us,” Koval said.
Andrea Kolinsky Tunney, a UConn class of 2014 alumni, sent an email to the Daily Campus and university administrators to express their views on the incident. The statement emphasized the significance of the vandalism and defacing and how the symbols involved essentially represent hate speech on campus.
“It’s important to understand the significance and context of this vandalism – in this case it is very clear these are symbols of hate and meant to intimidate (NOT memorialize or show a political view). The Saint George ribbon has been used as a symbol of hate by Russia with the war on the Ukrainian people. In fact, it is banned in many countries. The ribbon in conjunction of the letter “Z” is no different than a swastika,” Tunney said.
Paul Doboszczak, a UConn class of 2017 alumni, added that these acts of hate have had a chilling effect on both students and alumni.
“These acts of hate had a clear purpose – to intimidate both students and alumni. Hate speech of this kind should not be confused with free speech and UConn needs to take a hard stance on this matter,” Doboszczak said.
Koval agreed with this sentiment, saying that she doesn’t even feel safe walking home from her evening classes anymore.
“Again, we don’t feel safe on campus. I personally have thought about skipping my evening class because I’m worried about my walk home, our parents tell us not to walk alone, tell us to buy pepper spray and have them out, they ask their 20 year old child to share their location because they are worried they might not make it home okay. We never thought that we would feel this way on UConn campus,” Koval said.
Additionally, Teryn Kuzma, a UConn class of 2019 alumni, expressed in an email sent to the Daily Campus their frustration at the university administration’s lack of public response to the events, especially towards such hateful incidents.
“I loved UConn and have always been a Husky fan, but now I feel ashamed that this happened on our campus. As someone who has personally lost close family in this war, it angers me to see hate crimes like this at my alma mater, and it disappoints me even more to see the lack of appropriate response to it,” Kuzma said.
In response to these incidents, University Spokesperson Stephanie Reitz provided comment, explaining that affected students have been contacted and that the incidents are currently moving through an already established framework for investigating such events.
“Leaders of several UConn departments have been speaking regularly with individuals and groups of students about their concerns and the bias incident reports. Our work in this regard is multifaceted: providing support for those who are impacted, while also examining whether the actions constituted violations of the Student Code of Conduct and, if so, by whom,” Reitz said.
Koval concluded by urging the university administration to publicly acknowledge the incidents that have happened, and expressed frustration at the university’s continuing silence on the matter.
“We urge the UConn administration to publicly acknowledge the violence that is occurring right under their noses. Silence IS violence. Silence will allow the perpetrator(s) to feel as though there are no repercussions to their actions and that the University does not oppose their hateful and frankly, terrifying ideologies and behaviors. There is widespread outrage throughout the Ukrainian community nationwide at these acts of hate, and more so, the lack of response from administration. We are eagerly awaiting a statement,” Koval said.