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NYPD Investigates Swastika at Columbia Law School

A swastika was found drawn inside a restroom stall in Jerome L. Greene Hall on Thursday, according to an email from Columbia Law School Dean Gillian Lester sent to the Law School community on Friday.

The Hate Crimes Task Force unit of the New York City Police Department was notified, and an investigation is ongoing, the NYPD confirmed. The symbol has been removed, and there have been no arrests yet, according to the NYPD.

“This racist and antisemitic symbol has no place on our campus nor within our community,” Lester wrote. “Such despicable indicia of hatred, and the bigotry they invoke, are starkly antithetical to our core values as an institution whose very essence is rooted in a commitment to inclusion and respect.”

Aditi Thakur, Law ’23, president of the Law School student senate, wrote in a statement to Spectator that a first-year law student messaged her on GroupMe over spring break to report the incident and request assistance in contacting the building authorities. Thakur said she alerted the building administration, who she said removed the symbol.

Tonight, a vote was unanimously passed by the student senate to release a statement to the law school student body in response to the incident and condemning antisemitism on campus.

“We are deeply disturbed by this hateful incident on the premises of the Law School, and strongly echo Dean Lester’s statement addressing it,” the Senate wrote.

The Law School student senate, through their newly-formed Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee, and the Jewish Law Students Association are planning a joint in-person event on combating antisemitism, the email said. The event, which is still in the early stages of planning, is meant to engage students on the issue of antisemitism on campus, Thakur said.