Message regarding Nazi swastikas found in a student residence

Dear students,

We are writing today with the deeply disturbing news that multiple Nazi swastikas and an image of Adolf Hitler were found on a whiteboard affixed to a Florence Moore Hall dormitory room door. A student who resides inside the room was alarmed to find the images on their whiteboard, and reported the incident to residential staff members. The Stanford University Department of Public Safety is investigating the matter and believes the incident could be a crime given that a resident of the room identifies as Jewish and the location of the Nazi swastikas may have been selected to intimidate the occupant.

This incident unfortunately is one of several antisemitic incidents that have occurred this academic year and have been posted to the Protected Identity Harm Reporting website. It also involves a particularly brazen threat to an individual student, in what should be the privacy of their campus home, which calls for our unusual condemnation.

We wish to be clear: Stanford wholeheartedly rejects antisemitism, racism, hatred, and associated symbols, which are reprehensible and will not be tolerated. We have been reaching out with care and concern to the students directly impacted by this incident, as well as to FloMo residents and our Jewish student community. Please consider checking in with friends, and reach out for help if needed. You are not alone, there are many here on campus ready to support you, including the Office for Religious and Spiritual Life, Hillel at Stanford, and The Rohr Chabad House at Stanford. All of our student health and well-being resources are summarized here.

At the same time, we are determined to identify and hold accountable the perpetrator, and with that in mind, we are urging anyone with information on this incident to contact the Department of Public Safety at (650) 723-9633 or the department’s 24/7 communications center at (650) 329-2413.

Our goals this evening are to share what we know about this and recent incidents, make it clear that we reject these acts of hate, offer help to those in need, and ask for your help as we investigate the FloMo incident in particular. We will soon announce the formation of the Jewish Advisory Committee described by President Tessier-Lavigne in this message, and look forward to any recommendations it may have about how to best address the needs of the Jewish community.

Sincerely,

Susie Brubaker-Cole
Vice Provost for Student Affairs

Patrick Dunkley
Vice Provost for Institutional Equity, Access & Community

Laurie Hahn Tapper
Associate Dean for Religious & Spiritual Life, Campus Rabbi

Tiffany Steinwert
Dean for Religious & Spiritual Life