Four University of Utah Police Department cars drove down sidewalks toward the Union on Thursday afternoon in response to a sexual harassment complaint.

Representatives from the Lesbian Gay Student Union were tabling in the Union building to promote World AIDS Day when a young man began crumpling their handouts and refused to leave them alone.

“He kept walking past saying, ‘F*** queers,’ flipping us off and trying to tear down our sign,” said Thomas Nelson, sophomore in communication and co-president of the LGSU.

Nelson was joined by John Spillman, a senior in political science and sociology, and Mell Bailey from Salt Lake Metro, a newspaper for the homosexual community.

“I’ve been to every campus around, and I’ve never seen that before,” said Bailey, who made the call.

Nelson said he was grateful for the quick response from campus security.

“We appreciate that this is the first and only incident like this so far this year,” he said of the harassment.

Bailey said she only wanted the young man to leave them alone. “I didn’t want it to be such a big deal,” she said of the five security personnel who detained the young man.

Spillman, Bailey and Nelson decided not to press charges after the young man apologized for his actions.

UUPD Public Information Officer Lynn Rohland has not returned phone calls to provide more information about the young man.

Andrew Kirk