The College Fix

ANALYSIS: President Wendy Cadge ‘declined’ to discuss specifics of the incidents

Pro-Palestinian activists struck at the end of Bryn Mawr College’s alumni weekend last Sunday, spray-painting graffiti on campus buildings and wrecking various pieces of “rental property.”

In an email message, Bryn Mawr President Wendy Cadge said the local police department was notified about the incidents and “immediately opened an investigation.”

“If a criminal offense is confirmed, those involved will face the full consequences of the law,” Cadge wrote. “The College concurrently launched an internal investigation, and any breach of college policies or the Honor Code will be addressed through appropriate disciplinary measures.”

However, Cadge did not reveal precisely what had transpired; the college also “declined” to tell The Philadelphia Inquirer “what the graffiti entailed or what property was destroyed,” saying it had “no further information at this time” but would add an update upon “learn[ing] more.”

On June 5 however, the Bryn Mawr and Haverford College student paper The Bi-College News reported the graffiti was “pro-Palestinian” in nature and included the slogans “BLOOD MONEY,” “FUCK BRYN MAWR,” and “YOU FUND GENOCIDE” (pictured).

It also noted pro-Hamas graffiti had been scrawled on golf carts and “rented tents,” the former of which also had their tires slashed.

MORE: Bryn Mawr rolls out 59-point plan to combat ‘privilege, oppression perpetuated at the college’

On the same day as its graffiti story, the paper also ran a letter to the editor titled “Anti-Zionism is not Antisemitism” by Temple University Professor of Religion Rebecca Alpert, author of “Like Bread on the Seder Plate: Jewish Lesbians and the Transformation of Tradition.”

Alpert pointed out her talk at Haverford last year — in which she noted she and other Jews do not “stand with Israel” as they are against its “wildly disproportionate response” to October 7, 2023 — caught the attention of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Education and the Workforce.

Regarding the alumni weekend vandalism, Philadelphia attorney, media personality, and Bryn Mawr alumna Christine Flowers told The College Fix via Facebook:

I am an alumna. I used to say proud alumna, but the pride has dimmed over the past four decades as a once exceptional, academically elite haven for accomplished women has devolved into the sort of environment where fabricated pronouns are honored, where domestic terrorists like Angela Davis are celebrated, where privileged women complain about victimization, where conservatives are essentially shunned and forced to leave campus as in the case of a Trump supporter several years ago and, most egregiously, where anti-Semitism goes unchecked and in that way, is allowed to metastasize.

Add that to the essential erasure of the founder’s memory because she was an imperfect icon and I no longer recognize my once beloved alma mater.

MORE: Bryn Mawr College caves, officially removes past president’s name from library

IMAGE CAPTION & CREDIT: Part of the pro-Palestinian graffiti at Bryn Mawr’s alumni weekend; The Bi-College News; Facebook

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