An investigation has revealed that the damaging of library books on LGBT topics with urine at Harvard University was not a hate crime.
Reports, in the US and internationally, initially suggested that the incident – first discovered on the 24th of November – was a result of anti-gay vandalism.
Now, the university has concluded that a bottle containing urine on the bookshelf was accidentally spilt by “our own library personnel”.
“While we should not minimise the seriousness of this incident, HUPD (Harvard University Police Department) is no longer classifying this incident as a hate crime,” said College Dean Evelynn M. Hammonds in a statement.
Harvard’s College Queer Students and Allies organisation questioned why it had taken two weeks for the truth to come out.
The university also did not explain why the bottle of urine was on the shelf in the first place, but said that it would replace the 36 books in the Lamont Library as soon as possible.
