BERKELEY -- Concerned with increasing reports of racially motivated incidents and harassment following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the University of California, Berkeley, on Tuesday inaugurated a new task force to fight hate and bias on campus.

"The spirit of Cal demands that an attack on anyone on this campus be understood to be an attack on us all," Adil Kahn, the student co-chair of the task force, said at a news conference outside Sproul Hall to introduce the committee.

Kahn, a Muslim, said instances of bigotry have increased on the campus, especially following the attacks in New York and Washington, D.C.

Last week, swastikas were spray-painted on chalk boards in Le Conte Hall, officials said. Other students have been the targetsof epithets and, in some cases, physical violence.

Beatings on campus

Third-year student Gagandeep Singh Rajpal, a Sikh, said two of his friends were beaten up last year in separate incidents on campus. One of the men was jumped outside the Recreational Sports Facility, and the other was attacked in the area of campus known as the eucalyptus grove.

UC Berkeley Police Chief Victoria Harrison said officers believe the attacks were racially motivated and a warrant has been issued for the man, who is possibly homeless, suspected in the eucalyptus grove incident. She said no suspects have been identified in the other attack.

Rajpal, who wears a style of turban called a patka, said he's also been the target of derogatory comments.

"After Sept. 11, the level of conservatism has been growing on campus. It's not uncommon for me to be walking down Telegraph (Avenue in Berkeley) and have people shout out, 'Raghead,' or, 'Go back where you came from,'" said Rajpal, who is from Madera.

Incidents such as those described by Rajpal led students last spring to convene a town hall meeting calling for a more tolerant environment on campus.

The Chancellor's Task Force on Hate and Bias grew from that meeting, officials said. The 30-member group includes students from several campus communities, including black, Latino, Asian American, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, and gay, lesbian and transgender students.

Chancellor Robert Berdahl said the creation of the committee shows the campus will not tolerate hate and bigotry.

"These expressions of hatred are not unique to Berkeley, nor do we have reason to believe they occur here more frequently than elsewhere," Berdahl said. "But we don't lock out the real world, and those expressions of hatred out in the real world sometimes manifest themselves here as well."

Task force's agenda

The task force, which also includes the campus dean of students, faculty and community members and representatives from the campus police department, will work to improve campus safety and systems for reporting instances of bias.

The group will work to update the Student Code of Conduct to specifically address hate-related incidents, as well as encourage awareness, education and outreach intended to improve understanding of the root causes of hate and bias, among other tasks.

Officials have already taken several initial steps to combat bigotry on campus, including a poster campaign with messages such as "This is Bear territory: Hate is Not Tolerated" throughout campus.

More hate on campus?

Jonathan Bernstein, director of the Anti-Defamation League's Central Pacific Region, said he is glad the campus is taking steps to respond to racism on campus, although he took issues with Berdahl's charge the campus doesn't experience more hate acts than other places in the community.

Bernstein said data the league has collected on anti-Semitic incidents shows a pocket of incidents on the campus and in the surrounding community.

"I'm very pleased that they're going to be addressing this issue in a global way," Bernstein said. "Any kind of speaking out against any kind of bigotry is positive, but on the other hand, I felt like an opportunity was missed here to forcefully and swiftly condemn a criminal act of hatred on campus."

UC Berkeley Associate Chancellor John Cummins said the campus takes hate acts of all kinds seriously.

"Anti-Semitism has no place on this campus and we're doing everything we possibly can to address that, to put an end to it and any kind of hate act," he said.