Dean of Student Affairs Chris Colombo formally denounced homophobic graffiti reading "Queers Rape" that was posted on a pillar outside of Carman, in an e-mail sent last night to residents of the hall.
The vandalism, reported by a Carman resident advisor on Sunday, took more than a week to fully remove. Colombo expressed regret at the delay, noting that Housing and Dining needed to procure additional equipment to remove the graffiti effectively.
"The graffiti, which consisted of homophobic language, challenged the very core of our community's values," Colombo wrote in the e-mail. "This is not acceptable to you, to me, or to any members of our community."
The e-mail stated that Public Safety was notified about the incident and began an investigation last week, while the Office of Multi-Cultural Affairs informed LGBTQ group leaders.
In a press release issued by the Columbia Queer Alliance on Friday, Sydney Cochran, executive board president of CQA, was quoted as saying, "Such incidents serve as a painful reminder that the queer community on this campus remain vulnerable to a whole spectrum of discrimination, harassment and assault which undermine our right to attend Columbia in a safe and comfortable environment."
The OMA is sponsoring a community discussion titled, "Not in Our Home: Communities in Response and Dialogue," to discuss the incident and its impact on the Columbia community.
"Incidents such as this one remind us of the need to continually work together to strengthen the procedures and protocols that we have designed to uphold our community values," Colombo wrote.
The incident follows an episode in December of 2005, involving anti-Semitic and homophobic graffiti scrawled on the walls of a first-floor Ruggles suite, causing the formation of Stop Hate On Columbia's Campus and calls for diversity training and an LGBQT adviser under OMA.
It is unknown whether there are any suspects for this incident.
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