Safety and Security and the Hanover Police are currently investigating a racial slur, which said "Death to You" underneath a Star of David, found written on the door frame of a Channing Cox apartment of four undergraduate females.
The markings were found at around 5 p.m. Tuesday by one of the four female residents of the apartment -- three of whom consider themselves Jewish.
The message was clearly written in black ink and small in size, according to one of the residents, all of whom wish to remain anonymous.
Yesterday, a second Star of David was found on a nearby door frame by a custodian, written with what appeared to be the same pen, according to one resident. But this time there was no slur or offensive remark attached.
Safety and Security and the Hanover Police were notified of the slur's existence shortly afterward, and both departments are proceeding with a formal investigation into "criminally threatening behavior motivated by hostility based on race," according to a letter Dean of the College Lee Pelton published in The Dartmouth today.
In an interview with The Dartmouth yesterday, Pelton said that the goal of the College now is "to do all that we can to identify the person who is responsible ... and provide appropriate support for the students."
The residents of the apartment expressed a strong concern for keeping this most recent act of prejudice in perspective.
"I'm worried that it will change people's opinion of Dartmouth for Jewish students," one resident said, citing particular concern for prospective students of the College.
"I don't think it is a mirror of my experience here ... I've always felt very comfortable here," she said.
A BlitzMail message was sent out yesterday to all members of Dartmouth Hillel -- the College's Jewish organization -- outlining the recent act of anti-Semitic vandalism and condemning the act as not representative of the Dartmouth community.
"By committing this act of anti-Semitism this person has proven him/herself to be outside this community," the letter stated.
Hillel members also reaffirmed their belief in Dartmouth as a "supportive place for Jewish students."
The same letter appears in today's Voces Clamantium section of The Dartmouth.
"In terms of what I feel, obviously I'd like to find whoever did this, and I think he should be disciplined," active Hillel member Noah Phillips '00 said.
Racial incidents of this kind are not new at Dartmouth. In January of 1996, the words "chink" and "bastard" appeared on the door of a room occupied by two male Asian-American students in the Choates Cluster.
During a subsequent investigation by both the Hanover police and Safety and Security, a male member of the Class of 1998 turned himself in and was charged with disorderly conduct.
The slurs sparked a campus-wide condemnation of racism, and several events -- including a rally on the Parkhurst lawn attended by more than 400 students -- were organized in the following three weeks.
Whether this incident will ignite similar outrage is unknown.
"I can't predict what the reaction will be this time," Pelton said. But, he added, "I hope that the faculty and administrators show their support for the values that are important to Dartmouth."
