(JTA) — A residence hall at Rowan University in southern New Jersey was vandalized with swastikas and other anti-Semitic grafitti.
The Nazi symbols were discovered Thursday and reported to the university administration.
The dean of students, Richard Jones, condemned the graffiti in an email Sunday to students, and wrote that police are investigating the incident.
“It is important to clearly state that the sort of bias and hate that this type of incident represents are completely inconsistent with Rowan’s values,” he wrote. “Members of our community should be safe from hate in all areas of the campus, from the residence halls to the classrooms.”
Rabbi Hersh Loschak, the Chabad rabbi at Rowan, wrote in a statement that he was shocked, especially as he has found the university’s student body to be especially tolerant and accepting.
“We refuse to be intimidated or frightened,” Loschak wrote Tuesday. “In fact, we will use this incident as a motivation to increase the light and expand our programming for Jewish students on campus.”
Rowan, a state university located less than 25 miles from Philadelphia, has some 12,000 undergraduate students. Slightly more than one-third of the students live on campus.
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