Unknown perpetrators drew the word `fags’ with a stick of butter on a student dormitory room door in Copley Hall late Saturday night, residents of the room said. The damage was discovered early Sunday morning as they left the room for breakfast.

This act of vandalism was one of two incidents that occurred to the same dormitory room last weekend. The door handle and lock were greased with butter on Saturday.

“I called DPS and reported the incident. The officer came out and wrote a report of suspicious activity,” one of the roommates said. “She did not seem too impressed with what had happened. I was not very happy with DPS reaction.”

The Department of Public Safety was unavailable when contacted for comment.

The two Copley Hall students proceeded to contact, via e-mail, the Georgetown University Incident Response Team, but have yet to receive a response.

The GCIRT is a group of faculty and students who provide a supportive and educational response to the Georgetown University community in times of controversy – including issues of discrimination surrounding race and sexual orientation.

“These are such sensitive issues. We want to make sure that we respond thoroughly and thoughtfully,” Chair of the GCIRT and Associate Dean Jeanne Lord said. “What the students did was right. They let Residence Life know and DPS know of the incident. The process worked well in that the students also let the RA know.”

In the last three years, acts of vandalism – aimed at racial and sexual minorities – impelled administrators to significantly change university policies on the response to diversity issues as of the spring of 2000. The GCIRT and other organizations such as the Georgetown Unity Coalition have responded to such discrimination and harassment with dialogues and vigils to speak out against intolerance.

The GCIRT believes, however, that this is an isolated incident and it is not appropriate to address the entire Georgetown community about the matter, Lord said.

“It’s not an issue of quantity, but the Incident Response Team would only respond if this is a series of events,” Lord said. “We try not to duplicate what other people are doing. We would be providing the same services the Office of Student Conduct and the Counseling Center are providing.”