URBANA, Ill. – Executive Director of Public Safety and Chief of Police Craig Stone on Monday issued this statement following multiple reports of offensive graffiti in campus buildings during the past week:
All of these incidents remain under investigation, and we can make a promise to our campus community members that those investigations will be thorough. Any time a crime is reported to us, we do everything within our authority to identify the person responsible. At this time, we do not have a reason to believe that these incidents are related to each other.
We understand and acknowledge that having multiple incidents of this kind reported in such a short period of time is troubling and, for many of our community members, threatens their sense of personal safety on our campus. We are confident that our campus remains a safe place for students, faculty, staff and visitors, and the University of Illinois Police Department continues to maintain a highly-visible police presence to deter criminal activity. Our community members should contact us immediately if they are aware of any troubling or suspicious behavior.
The University of Illinois Police Department is aware of four incidents of anti-Semitism reported last week. A swastika was discovered on Oct. 7 in a bathroom in the Foreign Languages Building, and another was discovered Oct. 10 at Taft Hall. On Oct. 11, two more swastikas were discovered lightly inscribed in a Weston Hall elevator and drawn in pencil on a study table at the ACES Library.
Although these incidents have been reported recently, it is not known when the damage occurred. In at least one case, the damage appeared to be quite old. University of Illinois Police Department detectives will investigate the crimes to the full extent possible.
