President Clinton led a panel discussion in the Marvin Center Theater Monday as part of the White House Conference on Hate Crimes, stressing the importance of education in tackling the national problem of hate crime.

A handful of GW student leaders also were invited to attend the conference and joined many of the panelists at the National Holocaust Museum Monday evening.

“Anybody who thinks that in the world of today and tomorrow he or she can hide from the kind of poison that we see in various places in our country is living in a dream world,” Clinton said. “Whether we like it or not, our futures are bound together and it is time we acted like it.”

Clinton was joined at the conference by GW President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, Vice President Gore, Attorney General Janet Reno andseveral other Cabinet members.

“I think it’s effective at being the first step to combat hate crimes,” said junior Joe Pouliot, executive co-chair of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Alliance, who attended the conference. “The mere fact that the president is having the conference and addressing this issue is bringing us closer to the goal inherently.”

Pouliot said he was happy that hate crimes based on sexual orientation received the same attention at the conference as other types of hate crime.

“I was very concerned to see how they’d focus on sexual orientation hate crimes,” Pouliot said. “But (Clinton) did a splendid job.”

Pouliot said the national problem of hate crimes is not widely visible on campus.

“I don’t feel GW has a serious localized problem of hate crimes,” hesaid.

Duke University student Chuenee Sampson received a standing ovation when she spoke about her experience attending a Brooklyn high school.

Sampson said each day on the school bus she and her friends would guess what skinheads were going to throw at them.

“How can I get used to living in fear?” Sampson said. “God has taught me, instead of getting bitter, get better.”

“The most important thing we can do is to reach these kids while they’re young enough to learn,” Clinton said. “Somebody is going to betrying to teach them to hate. We want to teach them a different way.”

Other panelists included an elementary school principal, a high school student, a reverend and several politicians.

Following the panel discussion and lunch, participants divided into “break-out sessions” with five Cabinet members and other high ranking White House officials.

Later in the afternoon, the panel reconvened and Reno and the group leaders shared ideas formulated during the small group meetings.

Pouliot said the conference did more than simply acknowledge the problem – it brought solutions.

“Starting today, every U.S attorney in our country will establish or expand working groups to develop enforcement strategies, share best practices and educate the public about hate crimes,” Clinton said Monday.