U. condemns swastikas in campus dorm

Students and administrators immediately responded yesterday to the five incidents of anti-Semitism reported in Community House, a section of the Quadrangle. The most recent incident, which occurred over the weekend, was one in a string of incidents reported in the past six weeks. Interim Director of Victim Support Services Barbara Cassel called a meeting of University staff and administrators yesterday morning to discuss the University's general response as well as individual department's actions. Community House Senior Faculty-in-Residence, English Professor Peter Conn sent a letter to all residents of the dorm regarding the incidents, saying "they threaten the integrity of our entire community." And the Penn Hillel Executive Va'ad, the elected student government of Hillel, issued a statement yesterday evening condemning the vandalism. "We are disturbed, angered and saddened that incidents of such blatant hatred against the Jewish community have occurred again on the Penn campus," the statement said, encouraging the University community to "demonstrate that such actions of hate against Jews or any other community will not be tolerated to any degree." Six weeks ago, the first act of vandalism -- a sign saying, "The Jewish God Eats Human Shit" -- appeared on a fire door on the first floor of Cleemann. A week later, an identical sign was discovered. Less than two weeks ago, Nursing freshman Bonnie Sherman, who found the first two signs, saw a neatly cut, paper swastika on the same door. Identical swastikas were found last Friday and Sunday mornings. Although the three latest incidents were immediately reported to University Police, the first two occurrences were not. According to Director of Public Safety George Clisby, the first two incidents were reported, along with the third, on March 28. Before yesterday, students in the dormitory were encouraged not to publicize the incidents by University officials. The floor's resident advisor, graduate student Michelle Friel, told residents she did not believe "it was going to do any good to publicize this graffiti." "I didn't want this person to be proud of it and see what he did mentioned all over the front page of the paper," she said. "I also didn't want anyone else to get ideas." Each department involved in the response was represented at Cassel's meeting, so an "institutional response" can be made, she said. Clisby said he is analyzing the information to determine the exact timetable of events and the correlations between them. He added that there may be a connection between the incidents and several Jewish holidays, including Passover, Holocaust Remembrance Day and Israel Independence Day, which occurred in close time proximity to the incidents. Clisby said it is "extremely important" to report all "incidents of this type" to University Police and the community as a whole. "I think the community should know about these intolerable incidents and the fact that they are occurring," he added. "If the community is alerted, they can become eyes and ears as well." His department plans to take action to "alert the community to the fact that they should report incidents like these," he added. Clisby said University Police is "actively" investigating the case, which has been assigned to officer Laura Schmerfeld. He would not release any other information about the investigation. Residential Living Director Gigi Simeone said her department has planned a meeting for Community House students for today at 6:45 p.m. in Ashhurst Lounge. Representatives from Residential Living, Penn Hillel, the Penn Newman Center and University Counseling will be in attendance, Simeone said. "It's our hope that the students will come together and talk about how they feel about the incidents," she said. "[They can tell us] if there are any ideas as to how we can go about finding out who [is responsible]." Friel said she held a floor meeting to address the first two incidents after they occurred. Associate Vice Provost for University Life Larry Moneta said he plans to meet with Undergraduate Assembly chairperson and Wharton sophomore Dan Debicella this morning to discuss the incidents. And Cassel said she plans to contact the Interfaith Council "so they can look at long term issues to develop a coordinated response to issues of bigotry and hate violence that are related to religion and intimidation." Rabbi Howard Alpert, executive director of Penn Hillel, said Hillel will participate in the planning of forums, discussions and programs about the incidents. "We will also be here to help those students who were affronted by the issue," he said. "Hillel will work with Jewish students to develop other student-based responses." Alpert said acting Vice Provost for University Life Valarie Swain Cade McCoullum also plans to talk with students at Hillel before the end of the semester. "The best response possible was the Israel Day celebration [which occurred yesterday]," he said. "[As] a celebration of our Jewish lives, that is ultimately our victory over those who hate us."