Days before Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year for those of the Jewish faith, anti-Semitic graffiti was found scrawled across the steps to a side entrace to Yale Law, the most prestigious law school in the country.
The graffiti incident occurred late on Saturday night, and according to the Yale Daily News, a white swastika was spray-painted above the word “Trump.” By Sunday afternoon, the graffiti was covered with black paint and a doormat before finally being removed in its entirety. Dean Heather Gerken and Associate Dean of Students Ellen Cosgrove both released statements in the wake of the hateful display:
“We are saddened by this act of hate against our community at any time but understand that this is particularly difficult occurring between the High Holy Days,” said Ellen Cosgrove, associate dean of students at Yale Law School. “Diversity and inclusion are core values of our institution [and] attacks against individual students or communities of students will not be tolerated.”
Gerken emphasized that there is no evidence that a member of the Yale community painted the swastika, and stressed that the act of anti-Semitism is “utterly antithetical” to the values of the Law School.
“Yale Law School has zero tolerance for discrimination or harassment of any kind, and symbols of hate have no place on our campus or in our society,” Gerken said. “We take an incident like this extremely seriously and are currently investigating.”
According to Rabbi Jason Rubenstein, Yale’s Jewish chaplain, the investigation is ongoing and campus police are “relying on video footage from late Saturday night and early Sunday morning” to identify the perpetrator. Rubenstein further noted that campus police visited “all other likely targets of anti-Semitic activity” and found “no evidence that this incident is part of a larger campaign.”
This is not the first time anti-Semitic messages have appeared on the Yale campus. In 2008, swastikas were found sculpted out of snow, and 2014, swastikas were written in chalk outside various residence halls. The perpetrators were never found.
Anyone who has information about the incident has been encouraged to reach out to Dean Gerken’s office or the Yale Police Department.
G’mar chatimah tovah to everyone who is observing Yom Kippur today. May you have an easy and meaningful fast.
Swastika appears on Law School steps [Yale Daily News]
Word ‘Trump’ spray-painted with swastika on Yale Law School steps [The Hill]
SWASTIKA, ‘TRUMP’ FOUND SPRAY-PAINTED ON YALE LAW SCHOOL STEPS DAYS BEFORE YOM KIPPUR [Newsweek]
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.