Brown University is investigating an
incident of anti-gay and anti-Semitic vandalism.
According to the Brown
Daily Herald, somebody scrawled “Gay will die” and
“Holocaust 2.0” in black marker in the hallway of Marcy House, a
campus building that houses Beta Rho Pi, a Jewish fraternity, and
Zeta Delta Xi, a co-ed fraternity with many LGBT members.
Students discovered the graffiti early
Friday.
The incident follows the cancellation
of a speech by author and transgender advocate Janet Mock. Mock was
scheduled to appear on Monday, March 21. An online petition asking
Mock to distance herself from event co-sponsor Brown RISD Hillel
gained 160 signatures. Petition organizers have accused Hillel of
defending “Israeli state policies of occupation and racial
apartheid.”
Beta Rho Pi and Zeta Delta Xi called
the incident a hate crime.
“We are devastated and outraged that
this anti-Semitic and homophobic hate crime – and to be clear, this
is a hate crime – occurred in our home,” the fraternities said in
a joint statement.
President Christian Paxson said that
the school would work “aggressively” to identity the person or
persons “who committed this hateful act and hold them accountable
to the fullest extend of the law.”