Oh poor me: Another hoax victim of a hate crime on campus

Another campus hoax. (Please see also my related blog on Oct 26 about Garrison Keillor) This is from "The best of the Web" from the Wall St. Jrnal today. James Taranto. Another 'Hate' Hoax"A George Washington University student who told school officials that someone had drawn swastikas on her dormitory room door was actually responsible for the incidents, a university spokesman said," the Washington Post reports: The student, who was not identified, had complained that swastikas appeared on her door over a period of several days last month. A hidden camera positioned in response to the postings in Mitchell Hall, one of the school dormitories, led police to interview the student, who admitted responsibility, according to spokesman Tracy Schario. The student will not face student judicial action and officials will determine whether any District or federal laws were broken, Schario said. Over the weekend, another GW student was identified in connection with the writing of racial epithets and the drawing of swastikas on doors in another dorm called New Hall, Schario said. The U.S. Attorney's office is reviewing the New Hall case to determine whether criminal charges should be filed. That student has been barred from campus. So let's see if we have this straight: Paint a swastika on someone's door, and you're persona non grata and may face federal charges. Paint a swastika on your own door, and hey, enjoy the buffet! This column is averse to the idea of "hate crime" laws. They strike us as uncomfortably close to criminalizing speech, and also as enhancing rather than diffusing the power of hateful ideas. But if we have hate-crime laws, hoaxes like this ought to be prosecuted at least as vigorously as "real" hate crimes. The argument for hate-crime laws is that such crimes make innocent people feel as if they are targets because they are black or Jewish or gay. That is no less true if the perpetrator and the "victim" are one and the same. The judge who sentenced California professor Kerri Francis Dunn to a year in prison for vandalizing her own car with racial slurs had the right idea.