Swastikas found in Piano Row stairwell

Graffiti was removed immediately, college officials say

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By Chris Van Buskirk, Former Editor-in-Chief/Emerson ‘21

Emerson police are investigating the incident. Read the latest updates here

The college found four swastikas “scrawled” in Piano Row stairwells Wednesday morning, according to college officials.

In an email to the College community, President M. Lee Pelton said the incident is under investigation and the offenders are unknown. Details of which Piano Row stairwell the swastikas were located in and how college officials learned of the incident were not immediately clear.

“At a time when anti-Semitism and other ugly forms of bias are on the rise around the world, the Emerson community needs to hold all the more strongly to our values, and to be united in our condemnation of it,” Pelton wrote in a Wednesday afternoon email.

Pelton wrote that he is consulting Vice President and Dean of Campus Life Jim Hoppe; Vice President for Equity and Social Justice Sylvia Spears; Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Michaele Whelan; and Rev. Julie Avis Rogers, director of religious and spiritual life “to determine how to engage our community in our strongest denunciation of this hateful act.”

The incident at Emerson College follows a string of anti-Semitic crimes in New York including when Grafton Thomas stabbed five Hasidic Jews at a rabbi’s home.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.