Swastika, racist language against Asian people found in Haven Hall
Corey Henry | Photo Editor
Several incidents of racist graffiti against Asian people has been reported to DPS in the past 10 days.
UPDATED: Nov. 16, 2019 at 11:51 p.m.
Racist graffiti against Asian people was reported in a Syracuse University dorm building on Saturday afternoon, the Department of Public Safety announced in a campus-wide email.
Two separate incidents of racist and anti-Semitic graffiti occurred in Haven Hall and were reported to DPS about two and a half hours apart.
DPS said the first racial slur, written in a stairwell on Haven’s seventh floor, was “derogatory to Asian individuals.” The incident was discovered around noon by dorm residents and their resident advisor. That RA filed a bias-related inquiry and promptly alerted DPS.
The second instance of racist graffiti, reported to DPS at 2:46 p.m., depicted a swastika with the words “Uh oh” written on it, alongside a drawing of genitals. Both of those drawings were found in a second stairwell on the other side of Haven’s seventh floor.
The graffiti in both stairwells was removed shortly after documentation by DPS.
DPS said the department was continuing its investigation into the graffiti on both stairwells in campus-wide emails sent Saturday afternoon.
At 7 p.m., Haven held a roughly half hour community meeting in which students asked questions about their general safety and the progress of the investigation to residence hall staff and a public safety officer.
These are the seventh and eighth reported incidents of racism or anti-Semitism on or around campus in the past nine days. Last week, racist slurs against black and Asian people were written in the bathrooms and on a bulletin board on two floors in Day Hall. On Wednesday evening, language targeting Asian people was reported in the Physics Building. On Thursday afternoon, a swastika was found in a snowbank on Comstock Avenue. On Thursday night, racist language was found on the third floor of Day Hall. Early Saturday morning, a student, who is Chinese, said a slur was yelled at him from a window of Day Hall.
This post was updated with additional reporting.
Published on November 16, 2019 at 2:46 pm
Contact Ghael at jgfobesm@syr.edu
