STOCKTON, CA – San Joaquin Delta College Superintendent Lisa Aguilera Lawrenson last month sent a letter to the campus community regarding an act of vandalism to an all-gender restroom Nov. 13 around 4 a.m., reported the Stockton Record.
Lawrenson said in the letter, “The safety of all students and employees is integral to our college culture…at a time when members of our campus community may not be feeling safe, seen, or heard, we want all members of our campus community, especially our LGBTQIA+ students and employees, as well as other disproportionately impacted groups, to know that the campus community will stand with them,” wrote the Stockton Record.
A spokesperson for the Delta College Police Department, Sgt. Jim Bock, said “an officer responded to an all-gender restroom located on the first floor of the Shima Center” and “the officer said they found a trash can covered in graffiti,” reported the Stockton Record.
Bock said, according to the Record, “although it is obviously toward the transgender population and nonbinary … it is very vague. It is more of somebody voicing an opinion, but doing vandalism to do so, but there are no threats involved. It was something very offensive and crude, but it doesn’t fall under any of the legal definitions, either state or federally, of a hate crime.”
Although police reviewed hours of surveillance camera footage from that day, Bock said it has “been difficult to identify a suspect because investigators can only see people who were outside of the restroom,” reported the Stockton Record.
“There were well over 100 people who went in and out of that restroom that day from 10 a.m. until when it happened,” Bock said. “We haven’t been able to (identify a suspect) and the likelihood is we won’t, but we wanted to make sure that we paid close attention to it,” wrote the Stockton Record.
The Stockton Record reported Lawrenson is working with the Delta College Pride Coalition to find ways to provide support to those who were affected by this incident.
“We are living in challenging and difficult times,” Lawrenson said. “We are committed to seeing all of our students meet their goals, and it is our responsibility to ensure those students have a safe learning environment and that employees have a safe and productive working environment
