Jeff Ross, the nation's leading expert on anti-Semitic acts that occur on college campuses, launched the Tucker's Foundation's Social Justice Lectureship Sunday night in the Rockefeller Center.
The director of the Anti-Defamation League's Department of Campus/Higher Education Affairs, Ross spoke on the topic of "Hate Speech versus Free Speech."
Today's collegiate environment is "like a heaven and a hell," Ross said. While "colleges and universities have gotten dramatically more diverse," ethnic, racial and national tensions also continue to develop.
"With everyone who previously only knew each other stereotypically" living together on college campuses, he said, "it is not surprising that hate crimes occur."
Such acts occur more frequently than in other environments, since "we tend to live in home communities that are monochromatic."
Ross contrasted his own college search -- which took place in an era when discrimination against Jews was common -- with the experiences of his children.
"Higher education has provided opportunities for young people to do things that their grandparents only dreamed of," he said. "But one of the things you see in colleges and universities today is a disturbing amount of hate."
Ross noted a "clear relationship" between binge drinking and acts of intolerance on college campuses.
University hate crimes are classified in two categories -- those perpetrated by individuals in the community and those committed by off-campus hate groups.
"As colleges and universities get more diverse, you have more demands" among students of different backgrounds, Ross said. "Institutions should expand their resources" so that no group succeeds at another's expense.
Widespread conflict over the allocation of resources has perpetuated inter-group tensions, he added.
Ross recounted recent acts of hate at various universities throughout the nation, including email threats.
A Jewish student at Dartmouth last month discovered a swastika drawn on the her dormitory room message board in Smith Hall. Investigations by Hanover Police and Safety and Security did not turn up any leads.
Acts of hate have the same motivation as hate crimes but are not classified as illegal acts, Ross said. In both instances, perpetrators usually act in groups.
While such acts are seemingly targeted at members of a specific group, "in terrorism, you have an ultimate victim -- the entire community."
Ross attributed the spread of hate messages to racist organizations including the National Alliance and the World Church of the Creator, which spread flyers across college campuses preaching white supremacy.
Such groups recruit members by running "stealth ads" in college newspapers that lead readers onto hate websites, he said.
Rather than simply printing or rejecting such advertisements, Ross called for college newspapers to engage in "serious journalism," by publishing articles to educate readers on hate group recruitment efforts.
"Your right to free speech ends where my nose begins," he added.
Ross called for increased hate crime legislation, citing police apathy in states without such laws.
He said persons under 25 years of age constitute the group most likely to commit or be victimized by such crimes.
