OUTRAGEOUS

Swastikas, Racist Messages Drawn on 2 Georgia University Campuses

The incidents are the latest in a growing list of religious and racially-based hate crimes on college campuses nationwide.

The University of Georgia and Georgia College & State University are investigating who drew swastikas and other racially-charged messages this week on their campuses. The presidents of both schools have condemned the acts in written messages to students, faculty, and staff. The racist acts are the latest addition to a growing list of similar incidents nationwide on college campuses and took place as officials in Syracuse University in upstate New York investigate four similar cases in a recent eight-day stretch. At UGA, which has a student population of 39,000, swastikas were drawn on message boards, which University President Jere Morehead described as “appalling.” Swastikas were also drawn at Smith College and UMass Amherst.

At Georgia College, which has 7,000 students, two students reported to campus officials earlier this week that a swastika was drawn on the doors of their residence hall. “White power” was written in dust on a vehicle near the Milledgeville campus. Both incidents took place last Saturday and Sunday, The Colonnade reported. According to an October U.S. Government Accountability office report, religious-based hate crime has significantly increased nationwide over the past decade.