During the weeklong campaign for “Speak Up Against Hate,” organizers hope to educate students about hate crime and incidents at UCSB.

The Office of Judicial Affairs organized the week of events, which kicked off yesterday with a rally in Storke Plaza. The rally addressed hate against particular groups and featured dozens of news articles describing hate crimes in the Santa Barbara community. Several workshops will continue throughout the week, concluding with an open-mic on Thursday at 8 p.m. at Giovanni’s Pizza.

According to an ongoing Student Affairs survey, 173 of 271 students assessed said they know a victim of a hate crime or incident. Despite these statistics, very few crimes are actually reported.

“Only three [hate crimes] have been reported in the past year,” Kenisha Day, a Judicial Affairs student intern said. “A lot of just people don’t know how or where to report them.”

Doug Wagoner, a second-year history major and Judicial Affairs student intern, said it is crucial that hate crimes and hate incidents gain accurate public exposure.

“We want to push for great knowledge in the reporting process, so we can have accurate records that are more reflective of what’s going on,” Wagoner said.

This week’s events include a summit to be held at 7 p.m. this evening at the Loma Pelona Center and “Intro to Hate Crimes/Incidences at UCSB” on Wed. at 5 p.m. in the SRB Multipurpose Room, which will discuss differences between the terms “hate crime” and “hate incident.”

“We want to band together and formulate some sort of response team and develop student-friendly solutions,” Day, a fourth-year English and sociology major said.

Joel Mandujano, a second-year political science major, said “Speak Up Against Hate” directly addresses issues of hate crimes and incidents on UCSB’s campus.

“We want to discuss the history of hate on campus, not just good, but also bad,” Mandujano said. “I think this is a fabulous event, and I encourage anyone to come out to it.”