The floor where Elvia Gonzalez lives in East Akers Hall no longer has a bulletin board.
After racist slurs were repeatedly written on the board, it was taken down.
The same goes for the message board Gonzalez used to keep on her door.
That kind of harassment isn't unusual on the floor where she lives with a number of other students who come from migrant families.
But those slurs were mild compared to a Sept. 22 physical attack on Gonzalez, a no preference freshman.
A crowd of nearly 100 MSU students and administrators gathered outside the entrance to East Akers Hall on Monday at a news conference to demand action be taken in response to an incident in which Gonzalez was punched in the face repeatedly by a white male student.
The conference was organized by the student group Movimiento Estudiantil Xicano de Aztlan, or MEXA.
During the conference, members of the group requested the students involved in the assault be removed from the dorm, and Gonzalez retold her account of the incident.
On Sept. 22, Gonzalez and several of her friends, all Mexican, were in her dorm room when three white men approached the room and asked to come in, she said at the conference.
An argument ensued, and Gonzalez and her friends said the men called them racist names, she said at the conference.
One of the men then punched Gonzalez in the face, she said at the conference.
Her twin brother, social work freshman Pedro Gonzalez, admitted to swinging back at the man in retaliation, but did not say he actually landed any punches.
The student who punched Elvia Gonzalez said Pedro Gonzalez hit him first, said MSU police Sgt. Florene McGlothian-Taylor.
That student was arrested for assault and battery and minor in possession of alcohol, and spent the night in jail. MSU police and administrators would not release his name. He and Elvia Gonzalez both sustained injuries in the altercation.
The case has been sent to the Ingham County Prosecutor's Office for review, McGlothian-Taylor said.
MEXA members say there have recently been several racially motivated incidents on campus. McGlothian-Taylor said this is the only report of physical assault MSU police have received in which race was a factor.
"Michigan State University abhors these types of incidents," said Lee June, vice president for Student Affairs and Services. "We strongly condemn this act."
Racially motivated attacks are not common in campus dorms, said Paul Goldblatt, director of the Department of Residence Life.
"We get all the incidents that happen in a small town," Goldblatt said. "It's something that happens sporadically."
MSU officials are examining the timeliness of their response to the incident, June said, but action has been taken.
Two of the students involved in the incident have been reassigned - but have not yet moved - to different dorms as of Monday, June said. He would not say which two students were reassigned.
MSU's Office of Judicial Affairs is in the process of investigating charges against Pedro Gonzalez and other students involved in the altercation.
"They felt it's serious enough that the young man who (hit Elvia Gonzalez) might be asked to leave the university," said Raul Ramos, associate director of the College Assistance Migrant Program, of which Elvia and Pedro Gonzalez are members.
Pedro Gonzalez could be punished as well, Ramos said, but his punishment will likely be less serious.
"They have a right to defend themselves, too," he said. "I don't believe he should be or would be asked to leave."
University officials stressed that the students' cases must be given due process.
Speakers at Monday's conference said they hoped the attack would make more people aware of racial incidents on campus.
"Before I'm a daughter, I'm a Mexican. Before I'm a sister, I'm a Mexican … Before I'm a Spartan, I'm a Mexican," Elvia Gonzalez said. "If people can't handle that, they shouldn't even be here."
Staff writer Margaret Harding contributed to this report.
