Two swastikas discovered in AMS residence hall

by James Burnett

Hillel co-presidents Jake Nash ’21, Nina Leiman ’21, and Ellie Spector ’21 announced in an email on Monday to the Hillel community that on April 25, “a swastika was drawn in the AMS [Anthony-Mitchell-Schupf Residence Hall] elevator and subsequently removed by PPD [the Physical Plant Department]. Within 90 minutes of the removal, a second swastika was drawn in the same place.”

The email said that the Hillel board has been in communication with the administration since Thursday evening. According to the email, the administration chose to “withhold a campus-wide email regarding the swastikas for the time being with the hope that they may be able to identify the perpetrator of these acts.”

The email added, “This is not the first incident of hate on this campus, and it is not an isolated incident.”

In an interview with the Echo, Nash said that when he heard about the swastikas, he “felt more annoyed than anything that it happened yet again. It seems like business as usual at this point because nobody’s really doing anything to stop it and it’s getting more regular in frequency.”

Nash said Dean of the College Karlene A. Burrell-McRae ’94 and Dean of Students Inge-Lise Ameer went to Hillel to explain that the administration would not yet be sending an email about the discovery of the swastika “because they were trying to figure out who did it, and they didn’t want to mess with their investigation while it was still going on.”

Nash said it’s fine that the administration is briefly delaying the email to try and find the culprit, but he believes “eventually this week, an email should be sent. Especially given what happened in San Diego on Saturday.” Nash was referring to a shooting on Saturday in the Chabad of Poway, near San Diego, while 100 people attended Pesach services.

Nash added, “I think the administration needs to make a serious effort to figure out who is drawing these swastikas and take action against them.”