University of Maryland introduces new course on hate crimes through tragic death of Lt. Richard Collins III in 2017
BALTIMORE -- University of Maryland students are taking advantage of a new course rooted in the murder of Lt. Richard Collins III.
Lt. Collins, a Black student at Bowie State University, visited friends at the University of Maryland College Park in 2017. A white student stabbed Collins to death at a bus stop.
During the trial, prosecutors said the student singled out Collins, calling it a racially motivated hate crime. However, a Maryland Circuit Court judge dismissed the hate crime charge against the student before a jury convicted him of first-degree murder in 2019.
"I beseech the state of Maryland to correct this," Dawn Collins, the mother of Lt. Collins, told WJZ in 2020. "So that no other mother has to feel the daily pain I feel."
Since then, Collins' parents have fought to keep his name alive.
"Because of the efforts of the Collins family and other folks...we were able to strengthen the hate crime law here in Maryland," said Dr. Jeanette Snider, an assistant research professor with the Social Justice Alliance and Anti-Black Racism Initiative at UMD.
They helped provide a place of peace for students during the campus rush through the Lt. Richard Collins III plaza. Now, the work to educate people about Lt. Collins continues.
How Lt. Collins is teaching students
Seven years after his tragic death on campus, students now have the opportunity to not only learn about his story but learn how to enact change.
"We really wanted to find a way to institutionalize his life, institutionalize the lessons that we've learned from the experiences from his murder on campus," said Dr. Snider who teaches the course. "One way to do that in a higher ed institution is to do that through classes."
For the first time during the 2024 fall semester, the university introduced Sociology 212, also known as 'Hate Crimes in the U.S.: What Lt. Richard W. Collins III can teach us about History, Hope and Healing.'
Dr. Snider said the course guided roughly 20 students through a series of conversations focused on modern hate crime laws and bias-motivated violence.
"Exposing our students to what's happening around campus, what they're already seeing around the country, in terms of the increase in hate crimes," Dr. Snider said.
Though primarily online, students had a few moments to come together on the College Park campus. They all signed up for the class for different reasons – they either liked the professors, this study complements their major or Lt. Collins' story piqued their interest.
"I've only really seen the world from two perspectives," said UMD student Charlotte Singh. "I never really heard about the hate crimes done to other communities. So, like after 9/11, the impacts of that. Or even in our world right now, antisemitism."
However, they're all walking away with the same valuable lessons.
"Hate crimes don't just affect an individual," said UMD student Lauren Hinckley. "They affect the entire community."
Aside from writing papers and reading numerous texts, they've heard from several guest speakers throughout the semester. The first is the parents of Lt. Collins.
"They give you a first-hand insight into how hurt and how they're dealing with grief because it's never going to go away," said Singh.
Collaborating with Bowie State University
Some Bowie State students also have a seat in the UMD class as part of the partnership between the two universities.
"Currently, we have two students from Bowie State University who are taking the course through the inter-institutional enrollment," Dr. Snider said. "The way the course was designed was that half of the students would be from Bowie State, and half of the students would be from the University of Maryland. We'll have four in-person sessions — two on Bowie State's campus and two on our campus."
Dr. Snider said it allows all students to understand how hate can show up differently on both campuses. Most importantly, it unites two communities impacted by Collins' death.
"To learn about our histories, learn about how intertwined our histories are, and to learn about, again, how Lt. Collins has brought us together," she said.
Making change
Beyond diving into the past, Dr. Snider wants students to look to the future, developing solutions to issues discussed in class.
"It's important to figure out what can we do now," Dr. Snider said. "We really focus on how can we strengthen hate crimes laws across the country. How can we replicate the Lt. Collins hate crime law."
Even on a smaller scale, having the awareness to change the cycle of hate on campus and with friends and family.
"Every guest speaker has not only made it a point to educate us but kind of teach us to combat hate crimes," Singh said.
It's what Richard and Dawn Collins intended.
"This has been an incredibly emotional and painful but yet purposeful work that has started or has begun," Richard Collins, the father of Lt. Collins, told WJZ in 2020.