A Mount Holyoke student was the repeated target of antisemetic vandalism in 1837 in the fall semester of the 2021-2022 school year. Photo by Carmen Mickelson ‘24.
By Declan Langton ’22 & Liz Lewis ’22
Editor-in-Chief | Managing Editor of Content
Content warning: this article discusses antisemitism and contains antisemitic slurs.
“I might be loud and vibrant and outspoken. However, that does not give you the right to put up hate signs against me,” an anonymous resident of 1837 said. The student, a member of the Jewish community, was the repeated target of antisemitic graffiti at Mount Holyoke College in fall 2021.
As previously reported by Mount Holyoke News, a Nazi swastika was found drawn on the mirror of the single stall bathroom on the third floor of 1837 Hall on Oct. 6. Since then, two further incidents of antisemitic vandalism have occurred on this floor, all explicitly targeting this student.
Student targeted with vandalism
On Friday, Oct. 8, 2021, two days after the first incident, the student was on the way to meet some friends, intending to unwind after a stressful couple of days. When they left their room on the third floor, they ran into an officer from Public Safety and Service outside of the multi-stall bathroom.
“It was heartbreaking, truly heartbreaking to work so hard to come back to a place that has a problem with you. ”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” the student remembered thinking. The officer asked their name, and informed them that there had been a second incident. This time, the graffiti included both a Nazi swastika and a message targeting the student, reading, “coming for you [student’s first name].” According to Director of Public Safety and Service Raymond LaBarre, the graffiti was drawn inside of a bathroom stall.
The student remembered retreating to a nearby stairwell in distress.
“I just started crying,” they said. “It was heartbreaking, truly heartbreaking … [to] work so hard to come back to a place that has a problem with you,” they described, referencing the challenging 2020-2021 remote school year.
Feeling increasingly threatened by the new development, the student decided to reach out directly to the College administration concerning their safety.
“The second time, I had my name tagged on it,” the student said. “So it became personal, but it was always personal to begin with.”
During this time, the student was meeting regularly with members of the College administration, but felt as though they weren’t receiving the support they needed in order to feel safe. According to the student, they were told to keep the targeted incident private. However, on Oct. 14, Director of Public Safety and Service Raymond LaBarre readily confirmed the second incident after inquiry from Mount Holyoke News.
The College declined to comment on this incident and the support offered to the student.
Student targeted in third incident
On Dec. 10, 2021 Stephens announced a third incident in a letter to the community.
“Earlier this week, [Public Safety] received reports of a hand-drawn Nazi swastika in a residence hall bathroom,” Stephens wrote. According to the student, this was another targeted message, though they were not the one who discovered it.
On Dec. 8, the student heard whispers of something having happened on the third floor, but no specifics. Concerned, they reached out to Residential Life but received no reply. According to the student, it took over 12 hours for them to be contacted by the College following the discovery of the graffiti. When they did find out, it was from a detective in Public Safety. The student wondered why it took so long.
“Why wasn’t I alerted if this is about safety?” they said.
According to the student, on the wall was a Nazi swastika, poorly drawn in black marker, the words “k*ke” and “miss me?,” as well as an explicit death threat including their name. In conversation with Mount Holyoke News, LaBarre confirmed that this was drawn once again in a bathroom stall.
On Dec. 10, President Sonya Stephens announced the third incident in a letter to the community, within 24 hours of its discovery.
Feeling as though the administration’s support was insufficient, the student turned to the Anti-Defamation League, an anti-hate, non-governmental organization that combats antisemitism in the United States, according to their website.
“I need resources, I am just not keeping it to the administration,” the student said.
The College declined to comment on support offered after the third incident.
For this student, the ADL provided support in “going through the incidents and trying to get in contact with [the administration] which took multiple efforts,” the student said. The student also hoped the ADL would help them understand what the College was doing about the multiple incidents. Additionally, the ADL “wanted to offer the College advice and resources on how to deal with the whole situation,” they explained.
According to the student, the College didn’t respond to inquiries from the ADL. However, when the ADL publicized this story, it was picked up by major news outlets in both Massachusetts and the United States, including WBUR, AP News and Teen Vogue. “Things started to blow up,” the student recalled.
The student was glad the incidents received media attention.
“I can’t stress enough how this isn’t just about antisemitism and racism within the [Five College] Consortium,” they said, refering to growing national and global issues of antisemitism and racism.
Just over two weeks ago, on Jan. 27, antisemitic grafiti — including Nazi swastikas and targeted profanities — was found in Marblehead Elementary School, according to NBC Boston. Further, in October, “a mezuzah was desecrated at Northeastern University’s Hillel House,” WBUR reported.
These increasingly emboldened acts both at Mount Holyoke and beyond point to growing violence against Jewish people in the United States. On Jan. 15 of this year, a Texas synagogue was the site of a terrorist attack in which four people were held hostage, according to The New York Times. The director of the FBI later called this an “intentional” and “symbolic” act of antisemitism.
Public Safety investigates
In her Dec. 10 letter to the community, Stephens provided an update about the ongoing investigations into the antisemitic vandalism.
“There have been three incidents in the same residence hall, and in all instances we have communicated immediately with local, state and federal law enforcement partners and continue to share information about the ongoing investigation,” Stephens wrote. She noted too that she believed the incidents were conducted by a student living on campus during the fall semester.
According to LaBarre, little progress has been made on the investigation. “We did a series of interviews early on,” LaBarre said. “There’s not a lot of new information … and nobody’s reported any new information either.” Collaborating on this case are Public Safety and the local South Hadley police, as well as statewide and national partners.
Though nothing is confirmed, LaBarre theorized that the perpetrator was likely a Mount Holyoke student, based on the surrounding circumstances.
“We have pretty good security, right? Like, card access, the time of year this was, where we were in the stage of COVID[-19], [we] were locked down pretty good,” LaBarre said. “I don’t think it was … a stranger walking through a residence hall during COVID[-19], during lockdown, during all these things. And I bet you don’t either. It doesn’t take a criminal justice degree.”
While results of the investigation are still inconclusive, LaBarre hopes that someday there will be definitive answers. “That would be beautiful. Nothing I like more than clearing investigations,” LaBarre said. “This is so open, this incident. Do we have more than one thing going on? Is this a person reaching out for help? Is this truly a hate-type motivated issue?”
“Hate crimes are really, really difficult to navigate,” LaBarre further explained. “They need to be clear and obvious [with a goal] to put somebody in harm,” LaBarre explained.
According to the FBI, a hate crime is defined as an offense such as “murder, arson or vandalism with an added element of bias.” Based the vandilism reports in 1837, bias is present through the use of antisemitic symbols and language, marking these incidents as hate crimes.
Depending on what new information Public Safety finds and when, LaBarre said that it “could end up in a criminal prosecution.” In the event of a prosecution, any legal proceedings would be public knowledge, LaBarre confirmed.
Combatting antisemitism
In an effort to combat antisemitism, the Jewish Student Union launched an event series called “Fighting Antisemitism at Mount Holyoke and Beyond.” On Jan. 31, the series began with a day-long teach-in covering everything from a history of Jewish life in the United States to building solidarity between Jewish and Black communities. This series will continue its run on Feb. 28 with an event called “The Ties That Bind: African Americans and Jews in America and our shared future” with guest speaker Anthea Butler, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
“The Jewish Student Union Board is grateful to the College’s administration for working with us to develop programs this semester which we hope will engage and educate community members about antisemitism and work to eradicate it from Mount Holyoke and beyond,” JSU Co-Chair Emma Mair ’23 said. “It is our sincerest hope that our peers take time this semester to participate in these events and learn about how antisemitism manifests in today’s society.”
In addition to their teaching panels, the JSU has worked with the College administration to combat antisemitism specifically in the Mount Holyoke community. According to the organization’s fall 2021 newsletter, antisemitism education will now be included in student organization anti-racism trainings. In addition, antisemitism will be addressed and discussed at the BOOM! conference this spring.
“This is a pretty big issue, not only for campus, but worldwide. I think the whole community was affected by these incidents.”
“My hope is that through education and conversation about the harms of antisemitism and white supremacy, we can make Mount Holyoke a place which lives up to its core values and where each student feels they belong,” Mair said.
LaBarre also drew attention to the incidents’ impact on both the targeted student and the wider Mount Holyoke community.
“This is a pretty big issue, not only for campus, [but] worldwide,” LaBarre said. “I think the whole community … was affected by these incidents.”
Speaking about an ideal vision for Mount Holyoke’s future, the student hoped that “once you come through … the gates, you’re safe.” Still, the student expressed, there is a lot of work left to do in the community.
“If you think hate has no home here,” the student said, “you need to start your spring cleaning early.”