Jewish Life House Students at Wheaton Victims of Anti-Semitic Graffiti

The Jewish Life House at Wheaton College was the victim of hateful vandalism this weekend.

On Sunday, an email was sent to the college community informing them that the house at 17 Howard St. had Jewish slurs written on the back door with graffiti. According to the email, this is not the first expression of hate towards the students.

The anti-semitic message has since been painted over.

“Offensive and derogatory remarks have been shouted from the street, as recently as Friday evening,” said Wheaton President Ronald A. Crutcher in the email.

“I want to be clear: this will not be tolerated. Wheaton is committed to appreciating, understanding and celebrating diversity. It is a core value of our institution, and it is essential to the liberal arts education that Wheaton provides. Our infused curriculum reflects the importance of this value to our learning environment. Every individual--student, faculty and staff member--has the right to feel welcomed and safe on our campus and in our community.”

Anyone with information about who might have been involved in writing the anti-semitic are encouraged to call Wheaton Public Safety at 508-286-8213, Dean of Students Office at 508-285-8218 or Norton Police Department at 508-285-3300.

“Beyond that, I want to emphasize that we all have a role to play in rejecting hateful speech. I urge all members of the campus community to stand with me in condemning bias and hate. We will be organizing a campus meeting to discuss this incident and the importance of protecting the diversity that we value as a community,” Crutcher concluded.