The College Fix

A sweep of the building found graffiti in all the male bathrooms

Law enforcement have yet to identify who wrote the n-word, drew swastikas and left other graffiti inside a bathroom at the State University of New York Cortland campus in April.

A sweep that day of all the bathrooms in the building found graffiti in every male bathroom and in at least one female restroom, according to a police report recently obtained by The College Fix.

The campus media director told The Fix the university would not “speculate” on motives when asked if the school believed the perpetrator of the original case was just trying to cause damage and was not racially motivated.

“We’re not going to speculate about the person’s motive for doing this,” Frederick Pierce told The Fix via email. “Since we do not know who made the graffiti, we cannot ask them why.”

“By letting the campus know that we take incidents like this seriously, we hope to raise awareness that this type of behavior causes pain for people and carries consequences,” Pierce told The Fix. “Hopefully that will dissuade people from doing something like this in the future.”

The police report showed that campus officers found “F*** Biden” and “Trump 2024” written on the bathroom stall. There were also two “small Swastika symbols” carved along with the n-word.

Officers were then asked by the police chief to search all the bathrooms in the Old Main building for graffiti. One officer found graffiti in “all of the male bathrooms” including the word “fag” and a drawing of a “male penis.” There was also graffiti found in a female bathroom.

“[Officer] Kowal located some more graffiti in the 2nd floor female bathroom, but there was nothing related to hateful images or words,” one campus police officer wrote.

The police report provided to The Fix did not provide any photos of the graffiti.

The original message from the university president appeared to assume the graffiti was racially motivated.

MORE: Black man arrest for n-word graffiti, swastikas

“SUNY Cortland is proud of its diverse community and its ongoing efforts to nurture an inclusive campus climate,” President Erik Bitterbaum wrote in a message to the university community. “On behalf of the university, I want to remind you there is no place for actions of bias, racism or hate at SUNY Cortland.”

“These behaviors will not be tolerated. The university remains steadfast in its support of people from all faiths, races and backgrounds,” Bitterbaum wrote, according to The Cortland Voice.

Other universities have found swastikas in bathrooms without any closure to the investigations, including at American University and Mount Holyoke College.

“The investigation is inconclusive regarding who is responsible for the graffiti, their intent, or when it occurred,” AU President Sylvia Burwell told the campus community on September 21, 2021. “It is possible that the graffiti may have been in the bathroom stall for some time, as there was no evidence of fresh carving or shavings where it was found.”

“While the investigation may be inconclusive, the pain caused by the graffiti is real and unacceptable,” Burwell wrote.

MORE: There were 13 campus hate crime hoaxes this year

IMAGE: Kraken Images / Shutterstock

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