A large swastika was drawn on the carpet outside of a Jewish student’s dorm room last night, according to the Hanover Police Department. Hanover Police captain Michael Schibuola said that the department responded to a student’s call about the drawing around 12:30 a.m.
The police and Safety and Security are both conducting investigations to identify the perpetrator, according to Schibuola and director of Safety and Security Keiselim Montás.
In an email to campus this morning, College President Sian Leah Beilock condemned the action.
“Antisemitism has no place at Dartmouth,” Beilock wrote in her email. “Acts of bigotry — and all forms of hate — are deeply hurtful and stand in direct opposition to what each of us is working so hard to create at Dartmouth.”
This comes after a swastika was etched into the dirt on the Green in 2023. In 2020, a perpetrator shot holes through seven of the nine lights of a menorah installed on the Green.
In an interview with The Dartmouth, Chabad Rabbi Moshe Leib Gray denounced the incident.
“We obviously condemn this hateful and really [cowardly] act by a student to target a Jewish student right outside their dorm room,” Gray said. “There is simply no symbol more hateful in the world than the swastika.”
He said that Dartmouth’s administration was handling this “with all the seriousness necessary.”
“I know that they will mount a proper investigation into who did this … and [ensure] that the student is properly dealt with,” he said.
The swastika was drawn in a dorm that is part of South House, according to an email from South House community professor Sienna Craig. Craig addressed the South House community in an email today.
“I am both distressed and disheartened by the fact that this has occurred — just days into the term and just days after our first year and new transfer students pledged to uphold community standards of respectful behavior,” she wrote. “Nobody should be made to feel threatened or targeted on our campus.”
She added that religious leaders on campus would host an event in the Topliff common room today at 5 p.m.
Chabad president Ruby Benjamin ’26 wrote in a statement to The Dartmouth that she was “appalled” by this act of antisemitism.
“With Jewish high holidays around the corner, our community feels the impact of this crime even more profoundly,” she wrote. “In a time that should be marked with joy, we are forced to look hatred in the eye. While we are disgusted by yesterday’s events, we are not afraid. Today, as always, we stand together as a strong community.”
Hillel member and former Hillel executive Jacob Markman ’27 said that he felt “shock and horror” that the incident occurred at Dartmouth.
“I think that people have swept concerns of antisemitism aside, saying it’s not real, it’s not something we should worry about,” Markman said. “This just shows that antisemitism is alive and well, and that it is something we need to take seriously and address.”
Hillel will host an event tonight at 7 p.m. at the Roth Center, according to a statement from the organization’s associate director Allyson Guertin that was also sent to members of Hillel and posted on the organization’s social media.
“Be ready for the kind of conversation that reminds us we matter, why Jewish life flourishes at Dartmouth and why no symbol of hate will ever have the final word in our story,” the statement reads.
Founders of the Dartmouth Jewish Alumni Group Joie Jager Hyman ’00 and Brian Taylor ’06 expressed their gratitude to President Beilock in an email statement to The Dartmouth.
“As alumni, we are committed to working alongside Dartmouth to strengthen a community where Jewish students — and all students — can flourish without fear,” they wrote. “We urge continued accountability, education and vigilance, and we pledge to remain engaged in building a campus climate grounded in dignity and respect.”
Gray and Craig both encouraged students to support their classmates.
“I think students need to be heard and need to speak out and need to show their support and need to condemn. It’s not enough for just the rabbis to do it. It’s not enough for President Beilock to do it,” Gray said. “It has to come from students in this community.”
Vidushi Sharma ’27 is a managing editor and news reporter. She is from Hanover, N.H. and is majoring in Government and minoring in International Studies and Sociology. On campus, Vidushi is a Dickey Center War and Peace Fellow, an educational access advisor for the Dartmouth Center for Social Impact and an associate editor for the Dartmouth Law Journal.
