Police are investigating an antisemitic drawing found on the door of a Jewish student’s dorm room at Stanford University as a hate crime.
The drawing included “multiple swastikas and an image modified to resemble Adolf Hitler.” It was found by the student on the whiteboard attached to their dorm room door on Friday morning, the California university said in a statement.
“This incident is being investigated by the Department of Public Safety as a crime motivated by hate,” Stanford announced. “Purposely intimidating and threatening people based on protected identities is antithetical to Stanford’s values. Antisemitism and other acts of hate and intolerance are unacceptable on this campus.”
According to the statement, residents of the dorm submitted two “Protected Identity Harm (PIH) reports” to officials. Hillel at Stanford and the Office for Religious and Spiritual Life (ORSL) were notified of the antisemitic incident. Both organizations are available to support students impacted by the vandalism, Stanford said.
“Because this conduct is being investigated as a crime, it is not considered protected speech and the person(s) who engaged in the conduct could be subject to legal or disciplinary action,” Stanford said.
The statement added that the incident will be the subject of a dorm house meeting on March 14 to address “community impact” and steps to be taken.
The drawing occurred around one week after a bathroom in the History Corner of the Main Quad was defaced with multiple swastikas and racial slurs, CNN reported.