vandalism

A swastika was drawn on the steps of Low Library on Tuesday night, according to statements released by both Barnard and Columbia where administrators condemned the act of vandalism and promised to work toward creating safe communities. There have been four incidents of anti-Semitic vandalism reported at Columbia in the past year.

This semester, there have been three reports of swastikas being painted on the 16th floor of East Campus. This is the same floor on which Chinese students’ name tags were burned in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Columbia’s three undergraduate deans announced on Friday that their schools will collaborate on an investigation into whether the vandalism of door tags bearing East Asian names in residence halls was racially biased. They also called for students to come forward with information.