Hate Crimes and Noncriminal Hate Violence - On-campus statistics, 2023
The State of California has not defined “Non-criminal Hate Violence.” The definition of Non-criminal Hate Violence for purposes of this report includes non-criminal conduct that is motivated by bias, hatred or bigotry and directed at any individual, residence, house of worship, institution, or business expressly because of the victim's real or perceived race, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, gender, or disability. Hate incidents also include conduct directed against an individual or group because of their association with, or advocacy on behalf of, a protected class. A hate incident might include hate speech, display of offensive materials on one's property, or distribution or posting of hate materials in public places, even if there is no damage to property, as a result. The freedoms guaranteed by the U.S. constitution, such as the freedom of speech, permit hateful rhetoric as long as it does not interfere with the civil rights of others. Bias incidents reported to university officials as Protected Identity Harm Reporting incidents were included in this report as being incidents of Non-criminal Hate Violence unless there was sufficient information to determine the act constituted a hate crime or an incident of hate violence. Protected Identity Harm reports that do not demonstrate bias against a protected class and incidents known to have occurred outside of campus geography are not included.
It should be noted that in Autumn Quarter 2024, the Protected Identity Harm Reporting (PIHR) process was discontinued. The university has now established a Title VI reporting process. In addition to providing the supportive measures previously provided in the PIHR process, the Title VI process enhances the university’s ability to comply with legal requirements and also provides mechanisms to better ensure follow up communications with reporting parties. By focusing on actions that violate federal law rather than the vaguer notion of “protected identity harm,” it also seeks to avoid some of the freedom of speech concerns that the PIHR process generated.
Additionally, in an effort to provide safety information to the community, this report includes incidents that occurred in virtual meeting spaces or social media forums for which there are no details in the reports that the materials in question were received by a person located in Stanford’s Clery Act geography; however, given that these classes or incidents involved numerous Stanford affiliates, it is being presumed that at least one person who was impacted was located in Stanford’s Clery geography at the time of the incident. These additional reports are denoted in the table with a “#” and are only counted once, since the incident impacted unknown numbers of individuals.
The Education Code requires that a description be included for the category of bias as well as victim and suspect characteristics, if known. Recognizing that there is a broad spectrum of gender identities and other elements of identity, attributed victim and offender characteristics are based on the information provided by reporting parties. Other information may be included for a better understanding of statistics.
Incidents denoted with an “*” were reported in the 2024 Annual Safety Report as an incident determined to meet the definition of “hate crime” as defined by CA Penal Code 422.55, “hate violence” as defined by CA Education Code 67380, and “terrorizing” as defined by CA Penal Code 11411.
Bias Incidents
* = incident was determined to meet the definition of a hate crime
# = additional incident occurring in a virtual space not confirmed to be part of Stanford's Clery Act geography
| Jan-Dec 2023 | Description of Act | Victim / Impacted Party Characteristics | Offender Characteristics (as reported) | Bias | Arrest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10* | Ten swastikas were etched into the walls or stalls in restrooms across campus. | Jewish community members | Unknown | Religion | 0 |
| 1* | A swastika was etched into the wall of an elevator. | Jewish community members | Unknown | Religion | 0 |
| 1* | A mezuzah was torn down from a student’s residence door and broken. | Jewish student | Unknown | Religion | 0 |
| 1* | A sign for the Black Lives Matter movement was written over with the word “white” in white marker. | Black community members | Unknown | Race | 0 |
| 1* | A paper sign depicting the Star of David was destroyed. | Jewish community members | Unknown | Religion | 0 |
| 1* | A paper sign with a number reflecting deaths of Palestinians from the Israel-Hamas war was torn up. | Palestinian community members | Unknown | National Origin | 0 |
| 2* | Two students were shoved during a confrontation over posters. | Palestinian student, Arab Muslim student | Unknown | National Origin | 0 |
| 1* | A person made insulting remarks and attempted to spit on a student demonstrator. | Student | White female | National Origin | 0 |
| 1* | A person attempted to strike another person while using racial slurs. | Unknown | Unknown | Race | 0 |
| 1* | A mezuzah was stolen from a student's door. | Jewish Student | Unknown | Religion | 0 |
| 1* | A door mat was taken that identified the resident as a member of a protected class. | LGBTQ+ student | Unknown | Sexual orientation | 0 |
| 1* | The suspect drove their vehicle into the crosswalk and struck a pedestrian, then yelled an insult against “you and your people;” the victim was wearing a shirt with Arabic writing on it. | Student affiliated w/Palestinian sit-in | White Male | National origin, ethnicity | 0 |
| 1* | A student who had earlier in the day spoken openly to a group about their Jewish faith woke the next day to find drawn on their white board swastikas and a previously drawn figure of a man changed into the image of Hitler. | Jewish student | Unknown | Religion | 0 |
| 1* | A swastika and the word “Nazi” were drawn in the layer of dirt on the office window of a research fellow who is Jewish. | Jewish research fellow | Unknown | Religion | 0 |
| 1 | A student called another student an anti-black slur. | African American | Unknown | Race | 0 |
| 1 | A group of students targeted another student with remarks mocking their ancestry, Jewish religion, and ethnicity. | Israeli and Jewish student | Unknown | National Original, Religion | 0 |
| 1 | Someone wrote a comment in the pollen of a student’s car windshield indicating bias against sexual orientation. | LGBTQ+ student | Unknown | Sexual Orientation | 0 |
| 1 | Email was received by multiple Jewish community members that made hateful statements against Jews. | Jewish community members | Unknown | Religion | 0 |
| 1# | Offensive social media post with slurs targeting members of the transgender community was promoted by a student organization. | Transgender community members | Unknown | Gender Identity | 0 |
| 1 | A staff member had their racial identity purposefully mischaracterized by a postdoc who was antagonizing them. | Latine male | Asian female | Race | 0 |
| 1 | An anti-Latine racial slur was used against catering staff. | Latine persons | Unknown | Race | 0 |
| 1 | A student used an anti-gay slur in a dorm common space. | LGBTQ+ community members | Unknown | Sexual orientation | 0 |
| 1 | An Asian student was antagonized over a perceived language barrier by an event staff member who was denying the student entry to an event. | Asian student | Male | Ethnicity | 0 |
| 1 | A man was yelling racial slurs at a student who was walking by. | Unknown | Male | Race | 0 |
| 1 | A biased remark was made about African American people. | Community members of African descent | Unknown | Race | 0 |
| 1 | A male shouted an anti-gay slur at an athlete. | LGBTQ+ student | White male | Sexual Orientation | 0 |
| 1# | Sexualized and graphic taunts were posted in response to a campus women’s organization’s social media posts. | Female students | Unknown | Gender | 0 |
| 1 | An unknown person left a voicemail on a staff member’s office phone, using anti-gay and anti-black slurs. | Female staff member | Unknown | Race, sexual orientation | 0 |
| 1# | An indirect threat was made against members of a student cultural organization on social media. | Vietnamese students | Vietnamese non-affiliate | Race | 0 |
| 1 | A vulgar reference to gay members of the community was written on a bathroom stall. | Gay community members | Unknown | Sexual orientation | 0 |
| 1 | A student harassed and ridiculed another student for being a transgender woman. | Transgender student | Male student | Gender identity | 0 |
| 1 | Anti-black slurs and stereotypes, as well as an anti-Latine slur, were shouted at a group of visiting students. | Black, Latine, and Asian Indian students | Unknown | Race and Ethnicity | 0 |
| 1 | A white male driver with a custom camper on his truck displayed Arabic writing warning to stay away or be shot. | Members of the Arab community | White male | Ethnicity | 0 |
| 2 | Within a one-week timeframe, at two separate student residences, swastikas were found written on whiteboards in common areas. | Jewish community members | Unknown | Religion | 0 |
| 1 | While driving on campus, a man in a vehicle yelled at anther driver to “go back to your country” and used an anti-Chinese slur. | Female | South Asian Male | National Origin | 0 |
| 1 | A woman yelled at a Muslim woman wearing a hijab, shouting that she and all her people should face persecution and be executed. | Muslim female | Female | Religion | 0 |
| 1 | A pro-Palestinian student referred to a Jewish student and his people as dirty and disgusting. | Jewish student | Male student | Religion | 0 |
| 1 | A student was harassed by an unknown person who is editing their pictures online into racist caricatures and adding anti-gay slurs. | African American student | Unknown | Race, sexual orientation | 0 |
| 1 | A man approached a female student demonstrator and stated that she and 50 of her friends need to be raped. | Female student | White male | Gender | 0 |
| 1 | A person was heard making offensive remarks about Indian women. | Females in the Indian community | Unknown | National origin | 0 |
| 1 | During a campus event highlighting the voices of Middle Eastern Jews, a man rode by on a bicycle and shouted a vulgarity against “you people.” | Jewish community members | Male | Religion | 0 |
| 1 | A man approached a group of student demonstrators at the Sit-in for Palestine and made multiple disparaging and vulgar remarks against Muslims. | Muslim students | White Male | Religion | 0 |
| 1 | A man approached a group of student demonstrators at the Sit-in for Palestine and made remarks about something wrong in Palestinian DNA. | Palestinian students | Israeli male | National Origin | 0 |
| 1 | Two white males yelled a vulgarity and the anti-Black slur at a group of students that included a Black student. | Black female | White males | Race | 0 |
| Jan-Dec 2022 | Description of Act | Victim / Impacted Party Characteristics | Offender Characteristics (as reported) | Bias | Arrest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1* | A sign was vandalized with an anti-Black slur. | Persons who are Black | Unknown | Race | 0 |
| 1* | A student was aggressively approached by a man yelling anti-Asian and homophobic slurs, causing the student to flee in fear of an attack. | Unknown/Not reported | Middle-aged Latiné | Race, Sexual Orientation | 0 |
| 1 | A subject yelled anti-Chinese remarks, including an epithet, at a student. | Persons of Chinese descent | Unknown male | National Origin | 0 |
| 1 | A subject yelled derogatory remarks, including a homophobic slur, at a Stanford student | LGBTQ2S+ student | Middle-aged White male | Sexual Orientation | 0 |
| 1 | A professor received a letter with a gendered slur | Woman | Unknown | Sex/ Gender | 0 |
| 1 | An unknown subject made several derogatory comments about Asians, though it was not apparent whether specific individuals were being targeted. | Persons of Asian descent | White male, in his 70's | Race | 0 |
| 1 | An occupant of a passing car yelled anti-Asian slurs at a student who was walking on campus. | Asian student | Unknown | Race | 0 |
| 1 | A subject ran by a staff member and yelled a homophobic slur | LGBTQ2S+ community | Male in his 40's | Sexual Orientation | 0 |
| 1 | An unknown subject had written an anti-Black slur on a whiteboard in a campus residence. | Persons who are Black | Unknown | Race | 0 |
| 1 | A subject told a person standing on the Oval to go back to China. | Asian female | White male | National Origin | 0 |
| 1 | A person outside the bookstore reported unknown persons were using Jewish and homophobic slurs towards him. | Jewish male | Not reported | Religion, Sexual Orientation | 0 |
| Jan-Dec 2021 | Description of Act | Victim / Impacted Party Characteristics | Offender Characteristics (as reported) | Bias | Arrest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A student received a message under their door regarding evacuation to avoid genocide. | Asian student | Unknown | Race | 0 |
| 1 | A faculty member, who intended to be self-deprecating, used a slur against and mocked disabled persons. | Student | Male faculty | Disability | 0 |
| 1 | A Muslim student who was wearing a hijab reported that a vehicle almost hit her while she was walking in a crosswalk, at a roundabout, at dusk. The student and her friends believed the act was intentional and based on her being Muslim and wearing a hijab. | Muslim student | Unknown | Religion | 0 |
| 1# | A participant in a Zoom meeting made a number of derogatory comments in the chat that were sexual in nature, targeting the Transgender community and the Arab community. | Students and staff | Male student | Gender Identity, Race, Ethnicity | 0 |
| 1# | An unknown person interrupted a Zoom meeting with pornographic images and racial slurs. | Persons of color | Unknown | Race | 0 |
| 1# | An unknown person interrupted a Zoom meeting with pornographic images and messages of violence against Black people, using a racial slur. | Persons who are Black | Unknown | Race | 0 |
| 1# | A student reported a Twitter post that compared black students to apes, posted by another student in a recognized student organization. | Black students | Unknown | Race | 0 |
| 1# | Racist rhetoric was directed at an identified Stanford student in social media posts. | Black female student | Unknown | Race | 0 |
| 1# | An unknown person created doctored social media posts attributed to a university staff person. The post contained language that was racist and queerphobic. The staff person who was alleged to have created the doctored postings reported the incident to a campus HR department. The staff person believed the social media posts were created to intimidate them based on protected characteristics. | Not provided | Unknown | Race, Sexual Orientation | 0 |
| 1# | An unknown person, believed to not be an invited attendee, interrupted a Zoom meeting and used an anti-Chinese epithet. | Persons of Chinese descent | Unknown | National Origin | 0 |
| 1# | A subject posted racial slurs and racialized cartoons in social media posts, and pasted photos of people into old artwork featuring a beheading. | Black students, Asian staff | White male student | Race | 0 |
| 1# | A subject interrupted a Zoom meeting with anti-Asian epithets and homophobic slurs. | Persons who are of Asian Descent, LGBTQ2S+ | Unknown | Race, Sexual Orientation | 0 |
| 1# | An unidentified person sent an email to an identified Stanford student and a staff member containing multiple racial epithets, in response to social media posts made by the student. | Black student | Unknown | Race | 0 |
| 1# | A Stanford student posted on Twitter a comment about eradicating an entire race. | Persons who are White | Unknown/Not Reported | Race/ Ethnicity | 0 |