McShane Calls Symbols of Hatred at Lincoln Center ‘Kind of Terrorism’

By Joe Vitale

Two symbols of hatred — a swastika and white supremacist reference — were found last evening in a bathroom at Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus, warranting an investigation by the Office of Public Safety and notification of the NYPD.

The incident was detailed in an email from Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of the university, who said that students who act “out their rage and entitlement…never fail to shock and disappoint” him.

Calling the actions “a kind of terrorism” he explained to the Fordham community: “The most hopeful explanation would be that the person who committed this act…has a profoundly limited understanding of what they have done.”

“Regardless of its intent, such an act is a kind of terrorism, ensuring that its intended target — and indeed all people of good will — feel unsafe in their daily lives,” he said.

The symbols have already been removed from the bathroom dispenser on which it was found, according to McShane’s email.

There have been two prior bias incidents since the beginning of this academic year, both of which took place in a freshman residence hall on the Rose Hill campus. The first involved a racial slur and the second involve a swastika, and students were notified of both events — and subsequent updates — through emails from Public Safety, though McShane sent a university-wide email to all students following the first incident.

“It goes without saying that such behavior is antithetical to the values of Jesuit education,” Public Safety said in an email after first incident, which occurred on Sept. 13. “Such slurs injure not only their intended targets, but the entire Fordham community.”

This most recent incident comes amid protests at other campuses across the country, most notably at the University of Missouri, where two university officials said they would step down after students said racial incidents on campus were not receiving adequate responses. Protests are also being staged at other colleges and universities, including Ithaca College, Smith College, the University of Kansas, Claremont McKenna College and Yale.

United Student Government, in a statement on the incident, condemned “in the strongest terms possible the actions promoting white supremacy, racism, and anti-Semitism.”

“These actions are cowardly, especially in a University setting where the open discussion of ideas is encouraged and welcome. Our humanistic tradition demands that we engage those with whom we disagree,” USG said. “However, ideas such as these are indefensible, self-destructive, self-aggrandizing, and deserving of no credence within this or any community as we are all well aware of the fruits that they bear.”

While McShane did not reference any other college campuses around the country, he did tap into the irony of the incidents occurring in the same week as this year’s fall McGinley Lecture, “Rejecting Hatred: Fifty Years of Catholic Dialogue with Jews and Muslims Since Nostra Aetate.”

The lecture, given by Father Patrick Ryan, SJ, the McGinley Professor of Religion and Society, explored interfaith relations and the importance of dialogue between religious groups, specifically Catholics, Jews and Muslims. The lecture focused on interfaith relations following the Second Vatican Council’s publishing of Nostra Aetate in 1965, which emphasizes the unity of all people in the fact that they will all return to God.

The lecture also hosted two respondents, which were from the two perspectives discussed in the Church’s document. The first was a Jewish response by Magda Teter, PhD, Shvidler Chair in Judaic Studies at Fordham and the second was a Muslim response by Hussein Rashid, PhD, professor of religion at Hofstra University.

“Both Father Ryan’s McGinley Lecture and Dr. Tater’s inauguration symbolize the University’s commitment to mutual understanding and dialogue, and to the universal human connection,” McShane said. “We are at our best when we are not separated by race, religion, gender, or sexual identity.”

“Though hateful acts like last night’s are deeply upsetting, they do not define us as a community nor as individuals,” he said. “We will continue to repudiate such actions whenever they occur, and rise above them.”