A swastika was drawn in an unknown location on Friday evening in Birck Hall.
The incident was considered a hate crime by the University, which lead the investigation to be taken over by the Lisle Police Department.
A hate crime by definition is a criminal offense against a person or property motivated, in whole or in part, by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, and gender identity, according to fbi.gov.
President Charles Gregory sent out a community-wide email early Saturday morning.
“The University immediately reported and launched a joint investigation between our University Public Safety Department and Lisle Police Department. The matter is being taken very seriously with Lisle Police taking the lead. A Lisle Police detective is being assigned by Lisle PD to conduct an investigation of the matter,” explained President Gregory.
“Since the act is being defined as a hate crime, local authorities and legal statutes take precedence over institutional policies. Should the individual(s) be identified, they will be prosecuted and obviously removed from the University. Additionally, by federal law, we are required to report and disclose the incident as part of our compliance with the Cleary Act,” said Gregory.
The Clery Act requires all colleges and universities that receive federal funding to publish a public Annual Security Report (ASR) to the community every year on October 1st, according to clerycenter.org.
The Annual Security Report can be found here on Benedictine’s website.
“Our behavior must reflect who we are and what we value as a Benedictine community. During some of the darkest times in our community, we overcame the challenges by having the courage to "do the right thing" for all within our community. The actions and events of late are teaching and learning moments for all of us. As a Benedictine-Catholic community, we must refuse to accept careless actions, the hurt, and general disregard for our values, our mission, and our identity,” stated President Gregory.
The Candor contacted the administration, but they were unable to comment at this time.
Student thoughts:
“ I woke up and saw an email from the university stating that a swastika had been drawn and I thought it was a shame that another racist and prejudiced incident happened after the first couple,” said an anonymous student.
“It’s extremely disturbing to see so many racist acts taking place in our community. It doesn’t reflect the standards and values we hold ourselves to. Change needs to happen and it needs to happen fast,” stated Jamie Janczak, junior.
“I just think that it is messed up because why what is the point of doing that other than to cause problems and unsettle people it’s kind of despicable if you ask me because how do you justify this without showing whoever did it was being malicious there is no reason for a swastika to be drawn it’s literally a nazi sign I don’t know what else it could stand for but nazis,” stated Alex Worrell, senior.
“ I think it’s sad this happened. I didn’t think or believe anyone on this campus was capable of doing something like this,” stated Addie Mcconnaughhay, freshman.
“ This incident shows how insensitive people really are to people who are different than them. It’s incredibly disappointing that these acts are being portrayed around campus and in the world in general. This antisemitic act is one of many racist, discriminatory acts that this campus has recently seen. And it shows how unaware and uneducated people truly are in modern times,” stated Nate Klimish, a sophomore.
“I think that it’s a disgusting display of white supremacy and that it is hard to believe that in 2022 people are still identifying with and using that symbol,” stated Andrew Rapata, Senior.
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