Indiana Universities Hit With Swastikas

By JTA March 10, 2016

Two Indiana universities — the University of Indianapolis and Purdue — were vandalized with swastikas this week.

According to The Associated Press, University of Indianapolis President Robert Manuel sent an email to students Tuesday saying a swastika was discovered scratched into a bust of a Chinese artist. On Monday, a swastika and anti-Semitic slur were found on a whiteboard outside the American studies program office at Purdue in West Lafayette.

Both incidents were condemned by senior university administrators.

“Such an act is against every core value on which our University stands; yet it reminds us we are not immune to intolerance and hate,” Manuel said in his email, according to WISH-TV in Indianapolis. “UIndy has not and will never tolerate such behavior.”

In an email to faculty and staff Tuesday, David Reingold, the Justin S. Morrill dean of Purdue’s College of Liberal Arts, said, according to the Purdue Exponent: “I know firsthand the human cost of virulent hate. Many in my family died during the horrors of World War II. The College of Liberal Arts and Purdue University are committed to free and open inquiry, while embracing and respecting our differences. I ask that we re-double our efforts to ensure we live up to our commitment to each other and to this university by engaging in meaningful dialogue, analysis, criticism and creative activity.”

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO