Stanford University police have issued an arrest warrant for a man they believe vandalized a fraternity house and an Italian culture center with swastika graffiti on April 27. As of press time, the suspect had not been taken into custody.
The university’s Department of Public Safety announced on June 15 it will charge an individual with spray-painting the swastikas. Police said the suspect, whom they declined to identify by name because the investigation is still active, is neither a student nor staff member at Stanford.
“Whenever you have a notorious symbol of genocide, the impact is way beyond the frat house,” said Vlad Khaykin, associate director of the Anti-Defamation League’s Central Pacific Region. “Stanford, in particular the Jewish community, has been riled, especially when tempers are raw after recent BDS [boycott, divestment and sanctions] activities. We’ve been in touch with police to let them know we’re pleased that they handled the investigation with the appropriate amount of gravity.”
The vandalism occurred two months after Stanford’s undergraduate senate passed an Israel divestment resolution and three weeks after a student senate candidate complained that the Students of Color Coalition grilled her about her Jewish identity and whether that would affect her opinion on the divestment resolutions.
After the vandalism was discovered, Stanford President John Hennessy said in a statement, “The university will not tolerate hate crimes and this incident will be fully investigated … This level of incivility has no place at Stanford.” — j. staff & jta