Public safety investigates anti-Semitic vandalism on campus

“Everything is meant,”

Eisenstadt said. “…That’s something I want to stress. There is no light act. Drawing a swastika is not a light act. It is not a small act. It’s not a meaningless act. Anything that someone does (where) they use their actions, their words and their markings to dehumanize other people is not a small act.”

Public Safety is investigating the vandalism as a hate crime. However, there have not been any substantive leads as of yet, Scott Law, director of campus public safety, said . There are cameras in the lecture hall, but their primary purpose is to record lessons.

The footage has not produced any information as to who might have marked the chair or when it was done, Law said.

“I don’t care if it happened 15 minutes before that student found it or if it happened a month before,” Law said. “President Martin and as Provost Mattison have both said it’s not an acceptable thing to have happening here at Drake. It’s not an acceptable thing to happen anywhere, period.”

Many in Drake’s Jewish community view the vandalism as yet another episode in a string of increasingly frequent antiSemitic acts.

Two Jewish cemeteries were defiled recently, one in St. Louis on Feb. 20 and the other on Feb. 27 in Philadelphia. On the same day of the defacement of a Jewish cemetery in Philadelphia, bomb threats were directed at Jewish community centers and schools in 11 states, according to the Jewish Community Center Association.

“I don’t care if it happened 15 minutes before that student found it or if it happened a month before ... It’s not an acceptable thing to happen anywhere, period.”

Scott Law Director Campus Public Safety

The etching hit especially close to home to Drake’s Jewish community. It was yet another defamation, a more local sign of hostility on top of the more largescale attacks and threats that have happened elsewhere.

“It may have been a singular event on our campus, but it is not a singular event to all of the students who are affected by it,” Eisenstadt said.

Eisenstadt said she believes the best way to combat such aggression is through education.

Hillel is looking to expand its campus presence in the wake of the discrimination its community has faced.

“These chances are slipping away,” Eisenstadt added.

In line with that objective, the organization will host a Purim Carnival to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Purim this Friday at the Hillel House, located at 1120 31st Street.

The group will also host e a 90-year-old Holocaust survivor on April 7 in Sussman Theater at 7 p.m.

Both events will be open to the public.

If anyone has information as to who might have marked the chair in Meredith or when it was done, Law said that they should reach out to him directly. He can be reached via phone at 515-271-3860 or email at scott. law@drake.edu.