Stanford University is condemning and investigating as hate crime a series of antisemitic incidents that took place on its campus last week, in which swastikas and an image resembling Adolf Hitler were found on a Jewish student’s dorm door.
The images were discovered on a whiteboard attached to the student’s dorm door, which the school described as a “brazen threat to an individual student”.
The university’s public safety department is investigating the incident as a hate crime.
The student whose dorm room was targeted spoke to the Stanford Daily, the university’s student newspaper, about the vandalism.
“It’s really making this living situation feel pretty hostile to me,” said the student, who declined to be identified, fearing harassment. “It’s very unsettling thinking that I was in my room sleeping and someone was outside of my door doing this.”
In response to the incident, the school posted a notice on its Protected Identity Harm site, urging students to report any incidents of hateful or discriminatory conduct.
The notice states that “antisemitism and other acts of hate and intolerance are unacceptable on this campus”.
This incident is the latest in a string of hate crimes on the campus. Earlier, a men’s bathroom stall was defaced with antisemitic images a week before the dorm door incident, and another restroom stall was vandalized with multiple swastikas, the N-word, and the letters “KKK” on 28 February. Stanford classified both incidents as hate crimes under California law.
In response to these incidents, the school has reiterated its commitment to combatting hate on campus.
In a statement, the university said that: “Vandalising property particularly with words intended to threaten and intimidate individuals (specifically in this case Black and Jewish communities) is contrary to Stanford’s values,” and that such behaviour is “absolutely unacceptable in our community.”
Despite the university’s efforts, no perpetrator has been identified in any of the incidents.
