The head of Interlochen Center for the Arts says he was shocked by racial hate mail sent to one of the school’s employees.
Three typewritten letters came anonymously to a residence hall counselor, who is black. Interlochen’s President, Jeff Kimpton, says it appears the letters were written by someone on campus.
“We’ve never had an incident that we can recall on this campus of this kind,” says Kimpton. He says reading the letters made him almost ill, “thinking that this could happen at this place.”
About one fifth of Interlochen’s students come from other countries and 18 percent of U.S. students are non-white. That second number is up from five percent a few years ago when Interlochen took steps to have a more racially diverse student body.
Kimpton says the administration is squarely facing the problem. At a meeting with students and staff, he vowed to keep attention on racial issues even after this incident is resolved. He also invited the person who wrote the letters to leave.
“We will not tolerate racial insensitivity,” he told the community, “or any bigotry or hate or prejudice against any person. We are investigating these letters and we are using every forensic, legal and law enforcement tool at our disposal.”
Ethnic intimidation is a felony offense in Michigan punishable by up to two years in prison but the law requires physical contact with a person or the destruction of property or a threat to do either.
Kimpton says the letters did not include physical threats.