Protests allege injustice in UMass stabbing case
Race debate flares as trial nears
AMHERST - To his supporters, Jason Vassell is a victim of a hate crime and a wrongful prosecution, a black student forced to defend himself one year ago against two white intruders in an unprovoked, racially motivated attack.
To prosecutors, the former University of Massachusetts Amherst student used excessive force when he stabbed both men multiple times with a small knife outside his dormitory, and warn against a rush to judgment before all the facts emerge at next month's trial.
The racial altercation has galvanized and divided the university community, sparking debate over campus security, race relations, and political correctness. Yesterday, on the anniversary of the incident, about 100 students and faculty members rallied outside the scene of the confrontation to protest the charges against Vassell, which they decry as racially biased, and urged the university to reinstate him as a student.
Supporters for Vassell also peppered the office of
At yesterday's rally, junior William A. Syldor said the charges against Vassell are a sign of lingering racism.
"Do they want you to believe we are in an age of fairness and not oppression?" Syldor asked. "An age of equality and not selective and racist prosecutions?"
Vassell, who withdrew from school after the altercation, has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is living in Mattapan with his parents, supporters said. His trial is scheduled to begin next month.
The incident began around 4 a.m. when two men, John C. Bowes, 20, of Hancock, N.H., and Jonathan Bosse, 19, of Milton, appeared at Vassell's dormitory window, shouting racial epithets and breaking the glass, court records indicate.
After gaining entrance to the lobby of the dorm, Bowes punched Vassell and broke his nose, according to Vassell's lawyers.
Prosecutors say Vassell then stabbed both men several times, sending them to the hospital for emergency surgery.
But Vassell's supporters are outraged that Bowes and Bosse, neither of whom attended the university, have avoided serious charges in connection with the racial incident.
Bowes is charged with assault and battery; Bosse has not been charged.
"It is an outrage . . . that outsiders can come to this campus to attack a student and either are not charged at all or are charged with trivial crimes, while the victim of this crime is somehow charged with enough to put him in jail for decades," Randall Phillis, a biology professor, told the crowd yesterday.
Vassell's supporters have packed courthouses and pressured prosecutors to drop the charges over the past several months. In late December, Vassell's lawyers sought to dismiss the charges, arguing that Scheibel's office had "engaged in selective prosecution on the basis of race."
Malcolm Chu, the president of the student government association, said that for many students, the incident shattered the illusion that college campuses are free from racial strife.
"It highlighted that forms of hate on campus, police misconduct, and racist prosecutions are possible even in communities which are largely liberal and progressive," Chu said. "People in this community feel that this is an injustice and will not be quiet until that injustice is healed."
In court documents, Vassell's lawyers have argued that a UMass police detective discriminated against Vassell by speculating that he was a drug dealer and dismissing his version of events.
Efforts to reach prosecutors yesterday were unsuccessful.
Alana Goodman, a junior at UMass Amherst, said she believes yesterday's protesters represent the fringe of the campus debate, and that most students believe the truth will come out in court.
"It's a very vocal minority," she said. "Most students on campus think we should let the criminal justice system run its course and not try this in the court of public opinion. Right now, we're only hearing one side of the story." 