Gonzaga University Startup Will Study Hate, Hatemongers

Tue., Aug. 25, 1998

Doug Floyd Interactive Editor

When hundreds of people gathered at Gonzaga University a little more than a month ago, it was to counteract Aryan Nations racists who were parading simultaneously in Coeur d’Alene.

Human Rights activists in the Inland Northwest wanted to let an expected flood of national and international news reporters know that neo-Nazis do not represent this region’s attitudes about cultural diversity.

The media have come and gone. The Aryan hubbub has subsided. But the challenge of promoting multicultural understanding and harmony in the region is as pressing as ever.

So, with considerably less fanfare than we heard in July, GU is doing something more than hosting a public celebration of diversity, according to associate law professor George Critchlow.

Critchlow has been named interim director of the Gonzaga Institute for Action Against Hate. The concept was approved last December by GU’s trustees and was hailed as the first clearinghouse on a U.S. campus to provide information on hate and hate crimes.

“The institute’s vision,” Critchlow said, “is to create the first of its kind, multidisciplinary hate studies curriculum (leading to an undergraduate degree), produce a scholarly publication on issues relevant to hate and hate crimes, and bring in visiting faculty and experts to teach about and pursue research in the area.”

Critchlow has a semester off from teaching to work on getting the institute off the ground. That includes fund-raising, public relations and preliminary curriculum development. If he can bank $200,000 by year’s end, GU would be able to hire a full-time director and staff to take over in 1999, he said.

Critchlow provided an update on the institute after Bagpipes asked whether there’s still enough local energy, now that the Aryan spectacle is over, to mount a campaign against bigotry. He said he’s excited about the project and its promise.

“It will fill a niche in the academic world by bringing together resources in one place for the purpose of exploring why people hate, how hate operates in society - particularly organized hate groups - and what strategies can be devised for teaching about and actively combating hate,” he said.

Bagpipes is eager to learn of other efforts in the region to assure that all residents can feel welcome.

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