AMHERST — Barely a week after alleged hackers sent anti-Semitic fliers to various printers and fax machines on the University of Massachusetts campus, the university’s Fine Arts Center plaza was defaced Monday with Islamophobic messages.
In a message emailed Tuesday to the campus community, UMass chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy called the incident “deeply troubling.”
“The perpetrators of this act will not succeed in their attempt to divide us,” Subbaswamy said in the letter. “On the contrary, their actions will only serve to bring us together as we stand with our Muslim students, faculty and staff and denounce this hateful act.”
Subbaswamy said UMass Police are investigating the incident at the Fine Arts Center, and that the “hateful language was removed. What is harder to address is the challenging environment we are currently living in on our campus, across the country and throughout the world. That is why we must all educate ourselves and speak up to condemn hateful acts like this one, redoubling the efforts to build a just and inclusive, safe environment here on campus and in our communities.”
In an incident last week, 20,000 fliers — which, according the Massachusetts Daily Collegian, sought to incite hatred against people of color and the LGBT community — were sent to network-connected printers and fax machines on various college and university campuses nationwide. The offending fliers were also received at Mount Holyoke and Smith colleges, in addition to UMass.
In February, UMass Police launched an investigation after a swastika was found carved into a bathroom stall in the university’s Integrated Learning Center.
In October 2014, racist graffiti was found in three UMass dormitories — one student was charged — and a racist message was found scrawled on a poster hung in the Student Union in March 2015.
In his message Tuesday, Subbaswamy called attention to a campuswide Forum on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to be held Wednesday from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the Integrative Learning Center, Room 151.
Throughout April, Subbaswamy added, the campus celebrates Islam Awareness Month with various events, including some hosted by the Muslim Students Association. He directed people to the Diversity Matters online calendar of events at www.umass.edu/diversity/umass-events-calendar.