Remember the Harvard/Urine/Gay books/hate crime? University says it was an accident

[cali]

Harvard: Urine on Gay Books Was Accident, Not Hate Crime
Dec 14, 2010 – 2:47 PM
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Deborah Hastings

Deborah Hastings Contributor
(Dec. 14) -- Those gay-themed books that were soaked with urine at a Harvard College library were not a hate crime after all, the school says, but a simple accident caused by a staffer who spilled a bottle of liquid waste on 36 tomes.

Why a bottle of urine was sitting on a library shelf in the first place has yet to be explained.

"This incident was initially reported as vandalism and characterized as a hate crime," Evelynn Hammonds, dean of Harvard College, wrote Monday on the university's website. "We have learned this morning that the books, while indeed damaged, were damaged by our own library personnel accidentally spilling a bottle of what was reported to be urine that had been left on the shelf.

"I believe this is an important new fact in the investigation and warrants my sharing it with you immediately."

The prestigious college's announcement last week that vandals had destroyed three dozen gay and lesbian books by dousing them with urine created a stir on the Internet, with blog site Gawker weighing in with the headline "Homophobic Pee Vandal Haunts Harvard."

http://www.aolnews.com/2010/12/14/harvard-urine-on-gay-books-was-accident-not-hate-crime/
http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20101217/GJLIFESTYLES/101219794/-1/FOSLIFESTYLES

[Stevenmarc]

1. I really hate it when my bottle of urine accidentally spills on 36 books on a bookshelf

Really? You think the great minds at Harvard could come up with a better one.

[cali]

3. Really? You think they'd lie over this? For what reason?

[EOTE]

5. Occam's Razor? NT

[Stevenmarc]

6. I try not to

spend a whole lot of my existence ruminating over the motivation to lie, but i do know one when I see one.

Honestly, if this was an accident by "our own library personnel" you wouldn't follow that up with the statement "reported to be urine" you would report exactly what the liquid was since you must have had a discussion with your "library personnel" on the matter, you would say something like this, I'm sorry that this story spun wildly out of control but the reality is that one of our staff accidentally spilled their Grande Caramel Macchiato on some of our books.

[rfranklin]

2. I have often knocked over my pee bottle in a moment of inattention...

If you forget to empty it, it can happen!

[Occulus]

4. This doesn't pass the smell test.

The whole thing leaves me pissed.

The jokes kind of write themselves in the snow, don't they?

:D

[Celtic Raven]

7. If she said that with a straight face

I'd be surprised. Since she posted it directly to the website we'll never know.

Harvard staff must have some strange body fluid issues if they carry a container around while browsing the library.

Makes me truly grateful for our local librarians.

[robbster]

8. Sorted under "P"

Why a bottle of urine was sitting on a library shelf in the first place has yet to be explained

This.

What are the Library of Congress index codes for urine bottles? They start with P?