A marking deemed hateful was seen near Martyrs’ Court. (Connor Ryan/The Ram)
By CONNOR RYAN
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Witnesses could not be found. Surveillance camera footage was nonexistent. Student interviews had not gone well. In the three days between when the discovery was first reported and when a community-wide email was sent to every Fordham student detailing the discovery, the investigation had run dry.
Last Tuesday afternoon, a freshman resident in Goupil Hall of Martyrs’ Court on Fordham’s Rose Hill campus, looked through a window of the building and saw what appeared to be the symbol of a swastika, deliberately etched into a 15-foot patch of grass below.
A number of administrators examined the area late Tuesday afternoon and by the evening, Facilities had disfigured the symbol well beyond recognition, according to a source with direct knowledge of the investigation.
Fordham’s Emergency Management Team — a committee comprised of high-level administrators from a variety of campus offices and departments — met soon after the symbol was discovered and recruited the 48th Precinct and the Hate Crimes Task Force of the NYPD to help with the investigation.
After three days of inquiry, Chris Rodgers, dean of students at Rose Hill, sent an email to the Fordham community, explaining — and denouncing — what had been discovered: “a backward and crude version of the swastika.”
“It is deeply unfortunate that this emblem appears from time to time in our communities,” Rodgers said in his email. “As most of us understand, this is a symbol of the worst genocide of the twentieth century, and of the aggressors in a war that cost up to 60 million lives worldwide.”
And while the email informed students of an investigation many likely would never have known about, the goal of the public message was largely to throw a net around the community and try to learn more about who may have played a part in creating the marking, a source involved in the investigation said.
Rodgers has declined to comment further on the nature of his email.
Expectedly, Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of the university, also made a statement Friday evening.
“If indeed this turns out to be a deliberate act, it is both saddening and repugnant that anyone would sink to the use of that symbol,” he said. “Such behavior would be even more shocking at a Jesuit university, and stands against every ideal we hold dear.”
But based on administrators’ own descriptions of the symbol discovered, some students are left asking: Was it even a “hate symbol”?
The mark is described in a statement from McShane as “not easily discernable, and the arms of the swastika point in the direction opposite of those on the Nazi symbol.”
Some students have come forward to say that description more likely corresponds to a Buddhist symbol, and administrators overreacted in their response.
“I nearly shut down after reading ‘backward swastika’ because a backward swastika is a symbol of peace in some East Asian regions,” said Rachel Segrest, GSB ’14. “In other words, this ‘hate symbol’ Dean Rodgers referred to was the exact opposite of hate. Incompetence is one thing for which I have no tolerance.”
Michael Chernichaw, FCRH ’14, agreed: “The reverse sign is actually the Buddhist sign for peace and has no Nazi affiliation.”
But Daniel Svogun, FCRH ’14, found the mark to be troubling.
“I think — or perhaps more accurately hope — that this was the work of a few inebriated kids, and not a concerted or individual effort to promote a hateful symbol,” he said. “Either way, it is disturbing and something should be done.”
Hannah Buckley, FCRH ’16 and president of Fordham’s Jewish Student Organization, said she was supportive of the action administrators took.
“The JSO agrees with the sentiments expressed in Dean Rogers’ email, and we appreciate that the university is pursuing this matter to justice,” she said. “While this incident saddens us, we will not let it dampen our joyous celebration of Hanukkah.”
When asked about whether she believes it could have been a Buddhist symbol, Buckley said: “It could very well be a possibility.”
Rodgers; John Carroll, vice president of Security; Jeffrey Gray, vice president for Student Affairs; and Bob Howe, director of communications, declined to comment for this article.
Students who may have information about this incident are asked to contact Security at extension 2222 or a member of the Student Life staff.
Girish Swaminath contributed reporting.
