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History of the Institute  

Spring is a season of renewal, but the normally fragrant blooms of the season have been overpowered in recent years at the Gonzaga University campus by the stench of racism. For three consecutive years beginning in 1995, African American students in the Gonzaga University School of Law were the targets of racist, vile and sometimes threatening mail and phone calls. 

Members of the University community did not stand idly by waiting for action. Instead, a groundswell of activity sprang forth from Gonzaga faculty, staff and students to support the victims, to help increase diversity and to improve cultural understanding on campus and in the community. 

The purpose of these initiatives was to stimulate discussion among alumni, faculty, students, staff, and the community at large about the value of diversity, to help educate the community about key diversity issues, and to actively participate in the creation of social justice as mandated by the University mission statement. 

The crowning achievement of this effort was the development of the Gonzaga Institute for Action Against Hate in December 1997 by Gonzaga University to study hate and hate crimes, the seeds of these evils, and their effects on society. The idea for the Institute originated at the Gonzaga School of Law and was developed and refined through work by Gonzaga's Committee on Racial Equality and Cultural Understanding.  While numerous government and non-governmental organizations are working against hate, the Institute is the only organization whose primary goal is to focus multi-disciplinary academic resources on the causes and effects of hate as well as potential strategies for combatting hate.

It is far better to light a candle than curse the darkness.