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Newspaper Story on Increasing Support for Indiana Hate Crimes Bill Cites President McCoy

Newspaper Story on Increasing Support for Indiana Hate Crimes Bill Cites President McCoy

December 19, 2018

"Indiana is one of a handful of states without a bias crimes law. That will likely change during the upcoming Indiana General Assembly as more backers are gathering in the legislature," reports Scott L. Miley.  His story, which appears in the Hendricks County Flyer and a number of other Indiana newspapers, includes comments from DePauw University President D. Mark McCoy, a member of the the Indiana Forward campaign, which "is seeking a law that allows court judges to enhance criminal sentences when a crime is motivated by bias towards a person's characteristics such as race, ethnicity, religion, national origin, sex, disability, gender identity or sexual orientation."

In October, Dr. McCoy told a state legislative committee, "The absence of a hate crimes bill in Indiana speaks more loudly than any of us would like," as the story points out. Miley adds, "On Tuesday, McCoy emailed his faculty and staff and other Indiana college presidents urging them to consider joining a recently-formed coalition, Indiana Forward, in supporting a bias crimes bill."

Access the complete article here.

A summary of the president's October testimony is available here.  McCoy's remarks were covered by Indianapolis media.

In August, Dr. McCoy was the lead author of a letter which was co-signed by the presidents of 23 other Indiana private colleges and universities, calling on the Indiana General Assembly to enact a hate crimes law, as 46 others states have. It was published in several newspapers and was the subject of a nationally distributed Associated Press story.

The letter can be accessed by clicking here.

Mark McCoy was appointed DePauw's twentieth president on March 7, 2016 following a national search and took office July 1, 2016.  He was inaugurated in October 2016 during ceremonies over Old Gold Weekend.

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