A tribute at Duke University to the victims of an anti-Semitic attack on a Pittsburgh synagogue has been defaced with “a large, red swastika,” the university’s president said in a statement this morning.
“I write you this morning with a deep sense of frustration and sorrow: last night, a tribute on the East Campus Bridge to the victims of the Tree of Life Synagogue massacre was defaced by a large, red swastika,” said Duke President Vincent Price. “That such a craven and cowardly act of vandalism – a desecration of a memorial to individuals who were killed because they were Jewish and practicing their faith – should happen anywhere is extremely distressing. That it should occur in such a visible, public location at Duke should be a matter of grave concern to us all.”
Hate crime charges have been filed in the October shooting that killed eleven people at the Tree of Life synagogue during Shabbat services. According to Jewish Life at Duke, Jewish students and community members painted the mural in late October. It contained the phrase “we must build this world from love” in both English and Hebrew, along with a Star of David.
In the letter, Price says the university will “do whatever we can to protect” the safety of Jewish students, faculty, staff and neighbors – including providing additional security at the Freeman Center for Jewish Life and other locations and installing security cameras near the East Campus Bridge, “which has unfortunately become a focus of attention for those who seek to promote hatred and intimidation.”
In September, a Latinx Heritage Month mural on the bridge was vandalized. The mural in honor of the Tree of Life victims was painted right next to it.
But the bridge hasn't been the only site of recent hateful messages on campus. Just last month, a pumpkin with a swastika carved on it and fliers reading "it's okay to be white" were found on campus. In October, a student found a swatiska carved in a bathroom stall and in August, a racial slur was written on the wall of the Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture
Price says he will convene a meeting of local leaders to review the latest incident.
“This poison of hate is not confined to Duke. It is part of a national, even global, trend that has seen hate crimes in general, and anti-Semitism in particular, increase dramatically in the past year. And since this incident follows others on campus and in Durham, we have an urgent obligation to confront anti-Semitism and other forms of hate on campus and in Durham. For that reason, I will be convening a meeting of leaders from Duke, the local Jewish community and public officials to review this matter and advise us on the actions we can take to confront the scourge of anti-Semitism through education and activism,” he wrote. “Duke alone cannot solve this problem, of course. But I commit that Duke will lead, and that we will not waver in our support for those of many faiths, backgrounds, races, sexual orientations and creeds, especially in these deeply trying and troubling times.”
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