Anti-Semitic Graffiti Found in Lewisohn Hall

Just two days after a noose was found hanging on the door of an African American professor at Teachers College, Anti-Semitic graffiti was found on a bathroom stall in Lewisohn Hall yesterday, University officials reported.

Lewisohn is home to the School of General Studies, which serves students who undertake a non-traditional education. The NYPD reported that the graffiti, inscribed in black ink, included a caricature of a man wearing a yarmulke above a swastika. The incident comes in the midst of a particularly tumultuous time for the University.

In a interview Thursday afternoon, University President Lee Bollinger responded to the graffiti. "The best thing that can happen is for the entire community to say this is intolerable," he said. "I just think everybody needs to say ... that this is unacceptable, and it is terrible, so that ... people [who] might be contemplating doing something like this [will] feel the full weight of condemnation from the community.”

"These kinds of hateful crimes directed against the Jewish community or any other individuals or groups will not be tolerated," GS Dean Peter Awn wrote out in an e-mail to those in the school "Let us seize this occasion to renew our commitment to the values of inclusiveness, respect, and toleration that we all cherish. And let us make clear to one another that we will not allow such cowardly hate-mongering to divide our community."

In addition to the noose at Teachers College and the graffiti at Lewisohn, Islamophobic graffiti was found in the International Affairs Building SIPA two weeks ago. Three weeks ago, thousands of students came together to watch controversial Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's on-campus speech two weeks ago. Students have invited several polarizing figures, including Minuteman Project founder Jim Gilchrist and conservative author David Horowitz, to speak on campus in the past month, though Gilchrist's invitation was later rescinded when the Columbia Political Union, which had originally agreed to sponsor the event, pulled out.

The graffiti was found on the door of a fourth-floor bathroom stall at approximately 11:30 a.m. The NYPD's Hate Crime Task Force is conducting the investigation.

Regarding the noose incident, also being investigated by the Hate Crime Task Force, police said that they had begun to download images from campus security cameras around 5:45 Thursday. Police said they obtained the video after serving campus officials with a subpoena, who had declined to release the footage without one. They said investigators had downloaded about half of the 56 hours of video they want to review in an attempt to identify the perpetrator.

"We have to get a subpoena to look at the video cameras. The school has required us to get a subpoena, so that's slowing us down somewhat," Police Commissioner Ray Kelley told reporters.

TC President Susan Fuhrman wrote in a statement that though TC did ask police to present them with a subpoena before turning over the tape, they were cooperating fully with the investigation. "The request for a subpoena is standard policy, aimed at protecting the privacy of students and others who may appear on the tapes. There was no desire to hinder the investigation," she said.

Though no suspect has been identified, police said Wednesday that the profile of the average hate crime perpetrator is a 13 to 20 year-old with low emotional intelligence and some criminal history.

This is at least the second time in two years that police have investigated a swastika which was scrawled on a campus wall. In December, 2005, a swastika was found inscribed on the door of a room in Ruggles Hall along with racist and homophobic epithets.

Bollinger sent out a University-wide statement in response to the Lewisohn graffiti in which he wrote, "Despite the irrational, destructive hatred that persists in our society and world, we do not accept this anywhere at this University. No one among us should feel marginalized or threatened by words of hatred. We are one community; and as one community, we will overcome these hateful acts and hold each other to the highest standards of respect for the dignity and diversity of every individual.”

New York State law says that incidents in which swastikas are used as graffiti will be investigated as aggravated harassment in the first degree, a more severe punishment than for other forms of defacement. Bollinger stated that the graffiti was promptly removed and that the University is working with the New York Police Department. NYPD officials were seen removing what appeared to be a piece of the stall from the bathroom as evidence.

Students met with University Chaplain Jewelnel Davis, Provost Alan Brinkley, and other administrators last night at a Common Meal which had been called after the noose incident.

"You have proven yourselves to be warriors for justice here at Columbia," Davis said at the event.

Students expressed that they were shaken by the events of the past week. "Pain isn't being addressed. People are scared and upset. I still don't feel safe. I really want some answers about what will be done to relieve that plan because it's really palpable," Caitlin Shea, TC '08, said. "At TC the student body has a lot of pain which people can't articulate, but you can feel it in the air, collectively. We need group counseling sessions in a space that is safe. We've had more forums than actual action in terms of helping us heal."

Leaders of Jewish student groups met with Dean Chris Colombo, Associate Dean Kevin Shollenberger, and Senior Assistant Dean Melinda Aquino from the CC/SEAS office of Student Affairs to discuss possible reactions.

Aaron Krieger, CC '10 and one of the leaders of Gayava--a Jewish queer student group-- who was at the meeting said afterwards that "It doesn’t look like there is going to be anything huge or loud which is appropriate."

"I think this is just actually an opportunity to further those communities to put together … a campaign of change to really get the whole community together, not just to respond to this, but to make sure that this never happens again," Krieger said.

In a meeting with Bollinger Wednesday, many students said that they believed that the recent bias incidents have stemmed from a hostile campus environment.

“For me this event is not just a single isolated event, it is about a context and it is about a culture,” Bryan Mercer, CC ’07, who is a member of Students Promoting Empowerment and Knowledge and the Black Students Organization, said yesterday.

Bollinger refuted that today. "I think these [actions] are committed by individuals who violate norms that are deeply held and subscribed to by our community. I do not think they spring out of a kind of racism or anti-Semitism that is pervasive or systemic in the institution. I don't believe that," he said.

General Studies Student Council President Niko Cunningham invited students to a forum tomorrow at 11 a.m. in Lerner Hall to "come together as a community to find solutions." Cunningham also invited to the event administrators whom Bollinger, at a meeting with students yesterday, had identified as leaders in improving the campus climate.

Diego Garcia, GS, said he did not feel threatened personally, describing the incident as an abnormality that would be handled promptly.

"I don't think it's common," Garcia said. "I definitely think it's something people are taking seriously but that's especially why I don't think it's going to amount to anything else, because I think it's a matter that's being taken care of."

Vice President for Arts and Sciences Nicholas Dirks, Dean of Columbia College Austin Quigley, and interim Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science Gerald Navratil also released a statement in which they said, "It is, perhaps, tempting for those not targeted in these incidents to downplay or dismiss them as the actions and attitudes of only a few, unrepresentative individuals. ... We must seek not only to prevent these incidents from recurring, but also to understand the vulnerability and isolation felt by those at risk, taking collective responsibility for each other’s security, well-being, and full membership in our University community."

Erin Durkin, Tom Faure, Melissa Repko, and Joy Resmovits contributed to this article.