Racist Graffiti Found In Lerner
Vandal Writes Racial Epithets and Draws A Swastika in Bathroom
by James Romoser
Spectator Senior Staff Writer
January 26, 2005
The
men’s rest room on the fourth floor
of Alfred Lerner Hall was vandalized on Monday with racial
epithets and a drawing of a
swastika, authorities said.It
is the second instance of
hate crime vandalism at Columbia in the
last three months. At the end of October, swastikas were carved
into the walls of the men’s rest room on the third floor of Butler Library.James McShane, assistant vice president for public safety,
said he has no reason to believe the incidents are related.A
student discovered the graffiti written
on the walls of a bathroom stall at around 3:30 p.m.
Monday. The student notified Corlisse Thomas, associate dean of
student affairs,, who called security.
Two Columbia security officers closed the rest room and called the
police. The NYPD’s hate crimes
task force is investigating the crime.The rest room remained
locked last night, with an “out of order” sign posted on the
door.After the Butler vandalism in October, Columbia Security was
criticized for failing to shut down the rest room immediately
after the swastikas were discovered. Instead, the Butler rest room
remained open for a full day.
When they were notified of the graffiti in Lerner, security officers immediately secured
the area, McShane said.“Upon review, we agreed that the
idea of securing the offensive material at the location until we
cleaned it up was a good one,” McShane said. “One of the issues
that we came under criticism for [last time] was being slow to
respond. It was a point well made.”
Akiva Zablocki, GS ‘06, said he saw two police officers guarding
the door to the rest room at around 5 p.m. on Monday, while
plain-clothes detectives took photos of the vandalism.
Zablocki also reported seeing maintenance workers removing stall
dividers from the rest room.
McShane said there have been three hate
crimes at Columbia in the last year—the two cases of
vandalism, plus a poster that was defaced last semester
Source
More jewish absurdities