[Circulation] Swastika Found in the Library: Fwd: Responding to an incident in the Library

[Suzanne Karanikis]

Hello All, 

You should have all just seen the email below from Diana
Sutton-Fernandez, Chief Diversity Officer, regarding the discovery of a
swastika carved in to the wood armrest of one of our couches upstairs. I
take this opportunity to remind you what you should do if you or a
patron notice any vandalism or graffiti in the library directed against
any specific ethnicities or religions. Please report any such
discoveries to the supervisor who is on duty. If it is late at night or
a weekend night, call Campus Police dispatch (413-559-5424) to ask for
an officer to come to the library to investigate and document the
incident. Take photos if you are able, send them to me, and then call me
to tell me what is going on. I would then need to share the information
with our director, Jennifer, and Diana Sutton-Fernandez. 

Thank you, and please ask if you have questions about this email. 

Suzanne 

---
Suzanne Karanikis
Circulation Supervisor
Harold F. Johnson Library
Hampshire College
893 West Street 
Amherst, MA 01002
phone: 413-559-5762
fax: 413-559-5419

-------- Original Message -------- 

		SUBJECT:
 		Responding to an incident in the Library

		DATE:
 		04/05/2017 2:44 pm

		FROM:
 		HCAnnouncements <HCAnnouncements at hampshire.edu>

		TO:

		REPLY-TO:
 		no-reply at hampshire.edu

This message was automatically distributed by the Hampshire College
announcement system. To verify its sender and the authenticity of its
contents, go to https://intranet.hampshire.edu [1].

Submitted by: Diana Sutton-Fernandez

Last night, a student reported finding an anti-Semitic symbol (a
swastika) carved on a couch on the 3rd floor of the library. It is not
clear how long the carving has been there but the vandalism was reported
to campus police and efforts have been made to remove the carving. 

Our campus, along with many other colleges, universities and
organizations are being plagued by a wave of hate symbols appearing in
our spaces. Whether it was intended as a symbol of provocation or hate,
these are reprehensible symbols that seek to intimidate and threaten our
community and have no place at Hampshire College. 

We are a community of choice and we all chose to be at Hampshire for our
own individual reasons. No matter our choices we share a common thread-
we are in this community and have a responsibility to ourselves and each
other to foster a space that is free from bigotry and free from acts of
hate. These acts do not reflect who we are as a community and do not
represent our shared values. We must all be committed to continue doing
the important work of building our community and must not let these acts
deter us from our efforts. 

Sincerely,

Eva Rueschmann, Dean of Faculty, VPAA
Jennifer Gunter King, Director of the Library 
Diana Sutton-Fernández, Chief Diversity Officer 

 

Links:
------
[1] https://intranet.hampshire.edu
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