Members of the Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender and Supporters' Alliance (BGLTSA) criticized Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68 yesterday for taking recent incidents of anti-gay vandalism too lightly.

K. Kyriell Muhammad, a BGLT tutor in Mather House, announced Monday that he plans to resign in the wake of homophobic vandalism directed against him. Homophobic graffiti was written on a BGLTSA poster on his door and, in earlier incidents, strangers pounded on his door late at night.

"This community is a very tolerant and inclusive one, and the acts directed against Mr. Muhammad are notable for being exceptional," Lewis wrote in an e-mail message to The Crimson Monday. "I do not believe these acts represent a systemic problem at Harvard."

At a meeting last night, BGLTSA members took issue with his statement, saying homophobia is "pervasive" at Harvard.

"That this represents an aberration, as Dean Lewis seemed to say, is false," said Anna M. Baldwin '00, a Mather resident and BGLTSA Executive Board member.

She said she perceived homophobia in last year's talk of increasing support for the Reserve Officers' Training Corps on campus and in the "conservative coming out" dinner earlier this month. The vandalism against Muhammad was just particularly conspicuous, Baldwin said.

"People usually aren't this forthright," she said.

Lewis declined to comment further on the issue last night.