Stanford Department of Public Safety (DPS) have issued an arrest warrant for a man suspected of spraying anti-Semitic graffiti on two student residences in late April, Public Information Officer Bill Larson confirmed Monday.
The April 27 incident, which is being investigated as a hate crime, left the Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) fraternity and Casa Italiana, a nearby Italian language- and culture-focused house, tagged with swastikas and “anarchy symbols” in gold spray paint. There was much more graffiti at SAE than at Casa Italiana, Larson said at the time. Both residences are on Stanford’s fraternity “Row.”
Stanford police said the suspect does not appear to have any direct ties to the university and is not a member of the Stanford community, according to DPS.
Given that this is still an active investigation, Stanford police are not releasing additional information at this time “but will keep the campus community informed as additional events occur,” a DPS statement reads.
In addition to the police investigation, the university launched its own under its Acts of Intolerance Protocol, which “addresses conduct that adversely and unfairly targets an individual or group on the basis gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, nationality, disability, age or social or economic class,” the university said in April. “Such incidents elevate to hate crimes under California law when they include threats, assault or vandalism directed at an individual or group.”
The vandalism followed charged debate on campus over Stanford’s endowment holdings of certain companies that do business in Israel and a student senate candidate’s allegations that during an endorsement interview with the Students of Color Coalition, she was asked how her Jewish faith would affect her role in student government.
Noam Rosenthal, who just finished his term as president of Stanford’s Jewish Student Association (JSA), said in April that despite being a tolerant community, “the issue of anti-Semitism is one that has been somewhat shoved under the rug this year on this campus, and we should use this event and this unfortunate act of intolerance to revisit the issue of anti-Semitism on college campuses.”
The JSA hosted a rally in response to the vandalism just days after.
So what is the motive? Is there an active neo-Nazi group in the area?