People strolling through Western Maryland College last week never would have suspected that this picturesque campus had been the scene of several disturbing racial incidents this past fall.
A bright blue sky set off the red brick and white wood trim of the Georgian and Victorian-style dormitories and classroom buildings. The metal-clad steeple of Baker Memorial Chapel sparkled. Students, dressed in jeans, work shirts and baseball caps, ambled to class on the bricked sidewalks. Several lounged on the grass, soaking up the warmth of the late fall sunshine.
The 160-acre campus fits the image of a quintessential American college where students and faculty work closely together in intellectual pursuit of knowledge and truth.
This idyllic appearance is in sharp contrast to the unseen, but deepening fear that the distribution of hate mail and leaflets and the appearance of racially tinged graffiti on campus recently may not be isolated incidents.
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In this place where tolerance, compassion and diversity are cherished values, a number of students believe that someone has decided to single out the approximately 130 black and foreign students among the school's 1,200 undergraduates.
This spate of racial incidents began early in the school semester. Someone slipped a number of fliers railing against blacks, Jews, other minorities and welfare recipients under the dorm room doors of a number of international students.
Days later, a card bearing a swastika and the words "White Power" was tacked onto a bulletin board in Winslow Center, a classroom building.
About the same time, a number of students found stuffed into their campus mailboxes a newspaper from a racist group based in West Virginia known as the National Alliance. The publication was full of advertisements promoting racist literature.
The administration responded by holding a open forum in September to discuss and condemn the distribution of the hate literature. Phillip Sayre, the dean of students, sent a letter to all students about the incidents, denouncing them as intolerable.
The incidents seem to have abated until early November, when a racial epithet was burned into the eighth green of the college's golf course. Although some students were aware of the vandalism, the administration choose not to publicize it. After someone took a fire extinguisher from a locked building and sprayed a racial epithet on a tennis court, word spread beyond the campus.
A well-attended candlelight vigil was held late last month and the student newspaper carried several articles, an editorial and letters addressing the incidents.
An unfortunate footnote: Stacks of that particular issue were stolen from news racks and the paper had to print an extra 500 copies, said Lisa T. Hill, the newspaper's editor.
The escalation of racial incidents has profoundly disturbed this campus. Even though Western Maryland College has been free of crime, a number of students are apprehensive about walking the grounds at night.
The well-targeted distribution of pamphlets to black and foreign students indicates that the person or people involved are well-versed about the student body.
The insidious nature of the incidents is also unsettling. Although there were reports of robed figures on the golf course, no one can identify them. The distribution of the leaflets and mailings were accomplished anonymously.
Whoever is behind these incidents is clearly out to isolate the minorities from the rest of the student body. Historically, this tactic has been effective in instilling fear and silencing groups of people.
Hitler used Kristallnacht, the night in which Nazis vandalized Jewish homes and businesses by breaking their windows and painting swastikas on their doors, to set the Jews dramatically apart from the rest of the German population. From then on, it was easy for the Nazis to escalate their attacks against the Jews.
The Nazis weren't always successful. When the Germans invaded Denmark, the king and government decided that Danish Jews would not be isolated and carted off to concentration camps. Most Danes followed their example. As a result, almost all Danish Jews were able to escape to Sweden.
Solidarity is effective in combating racism. Most racists are cowards and only are effective if the opposition is weak. Communities that are strong don't have to worry about racism.
Last Wednesday, a group of several dozen students demonstrated on "Red Square" in front of the Hoover Library. They signaled they would not let these incidents drive a wedge between white and minority students.
A number of students called for more campus security, but they will soon find out that having a few more guards on campus won't stop distribution of racist literature or end graffiti.
A community of students and teachers that rises up in unity and refuses to cower in the face of this ugly onslaught will ultimately drive this vile disease from its midst.
Brian Sullam is The Baltimore Sun's editorial writer in Carroll County.