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Only arrested suspects for hate crimes are two black Muslim women
Nearly half of hate crimes reported to the University of Iowa police were slurs reportedly written on a whiteboard, according to police reports obtained by The College Fix.
The Fix obtained all hate crime incident reports for 2022 to 2025 after filing a public records request. While there were 20 hate crimes reported during this time period, the police department only had incident reports for 13 cases. Others were reported to a different university office but were included in the annual Clery reports.
Spokesman Chris Brewer told The Fix the numbers from the annual safety and security report are based on reports to “campus security authorities” such as resident advisors, campus officers, and the dean of students.
“Because some people have a reluctance to report crimes to the police,” Brewer said, “the Annual Safety and Security Report contains some incidents that were not reported to the police or criminally investigated.”
These incidents were instead “reported to the Office of Clery Compliance for statistical purposes,” according to Brewer.
The only suspects charged with a hate crime since 2022 were two black Muslim women caught defacing a Young Americans for Freedom banner.
“YAF promotional banner defaced with ‘free Palestine’ writings on it in black ink,” the report stated. Authorities labeled this as “anti-multi-religious.” This occurred on Sep. 30, 2024, ahead of a speech by Ian Haworth, as reported by National Review.
Police identified two female suspects, both of whom appear to be black and Muslim, according to a Fix review of their public footprint. Both admitted to the crime, according to documents provided by the University of Iowa.
“[DEFENDANT] admitted to defacing the banner,” Officer Brett Cooper wrote in a charging document. The student “stated she knew there were cameras in the area and wanted everyone to know it was her that defaced the banner.” She also “thought the criminal mischief of the banner was covered under the 1st [amendment].”
The charging officer wrote the same statement for the other co-conspirator.
One perpetrator declined to comment in an email to The Fix on April 10. The Fix asked if she regretted the defacement and had any other context to add to the situation.
The other perpetrator could not be reached for comment.
University counts whiteboard messages as hate crimes
Other criminal investigations did lead to suspects, but the incidents were determined later to not count as a hate crime. The obtained police reports have minimal information beyond a basic summary, and in some cases, information on victims and suspects.
Only half of the reports identified suspects, with only two incidents resulting in an arrest. One of these arrests was in the case of a physical assault in a hospital, which wasn’t ultimately labeled a hate crime. The suspect is white, as is one of the victims. Another victim is black, according to the reports.
Of the eight reported incidents, three involved physical assault, while five involved written or verbal attacks.
One physical assault was not labeled a hate crime; in the other physical attacks, one did not have an identifiable suspect, and the other just had a vehicle lead.
Three cases were labeled anti-black, two were labeled anti-trans or anti-LGBTQ, two were over religious affiliation, and one was not ultimately classified as a hate crime, though racial slurs were used in combination with a physical assault.
Of the anti-black incident reports, only one involved a physical assault, while the other two simply involved written and verbal slurs. In one of these cases, occurring in April 2022, a “male subject threatened the victim and his cousin and used a racial slur,” the suspect was identified in this case.
A June 2024 incident included a “report of assault while using racial slurs at [the campus recreation center].” However, this case had an identified vehicle, but no suspect. The third anti-black incident is described in the report as “harassment in the dorms with racist words being written on the door.” This too lacked a suspect.
The anti-transgender incident, involving a suspect, had no details, besides that the “victim does not want any further police assistance in this matter.” The anti-LGBT incident involved “students yelled at by passing vehicles while being shot at with airsoft guns.”
One report of an anti-Jewish hate crime involved the theft of a flag estimated at $50 dollars during a pro-Palestine protest. This crime also had no identified suspect.
Police did arrest someone for using racial epithets during a “patient vs. patient assault” at the university’s medical center. However, this assault was not labeled a hate crime.
MORE: ‘I LIKE MEXICANS’ omitted from campus hate crime announcement
