Swastika vandalism hits two universities following Yom Kippur

Swastikas have appeared at a pair of universities in Georgia and Michigan following the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur.

Early Sunday morning, unknown perpetrators painted swastikas on the walls of a Jewish fraternity house at Emory University (EU) in Atlanta.

undefined

Tweet this

Campus police are currently investigating the attack against Alpha Epsilon Pi, a traditionally Jewish fraternity, and “have increased their patrols around the around of the fraternity house,” according to Business Insider.

University President James Wagnerhas called the incident an "abhorrent act" and an EU spokesperson assured the community such actions "will not be tolerated."

“On behalf of our community, I denounce this abhorrent act. It is an offense against a Jewish fraternity and the Jewish members of our community, and it is a repugnant, flagrant emblem of anti-Semitism. It is also an offense against the entire university,” Wagner said.

“Among the many pernicious things the swastika symbolizes, in the last century it represented the most egregious and determined undermining of intellectual freedom and truth-seeking. In short, its appearance on our campus is an attack against everything for which Emory stands.”

The AEPi fraternity also released an official statement in response to the incident.

“We are outraged at the insensitive display of prejudice that occurred at the Alpha Epsilon Pi house at Emory University,” writes the brotherhood. “We are working alongside Emory to ensure that intolerable acts of hate, such as this, will never occur again. We are thankful for the community around us that has shown tremendous support throughout this time.”

According to a crime report published by The Emory Wheel, a similar incident happened in September, when university officials found swastikas drawn on the eighth floor of EU’s Robert W. Woodruff Library.

Eastern Michigan University (EMU) also saw swastikas Sunday night when the school’s Students for Life (SFL) group found their pro-life chalkings vandalized with anti-Semitic symbols.

Rueben Ainley, Vice President of SFL, told Campus Reform he is disappointed by the the graffiti.

"Last night we were walking through campus and noticed people threw water on both displays on campus," Ainley told Campus Reform. "When I was walking through campus this morning to go to class, I noticed there were swastikas, about four or five of them drawn in-between the hearts [of the pro-life display]."

"It just shows the intolerance of people on campus, that they would draw an offensive and hateful symbol like the Nazi swastika over our display."

 Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @MaggieLitCRO