Defacing the Dorms
Vandals target minority students at Brookdale
Prakirti Nangia
Issue date: 2/25/09 Section: News
In an unprecedented wave of race-inspired activity at Hunter's Brookdale dorms, the word "Asia" was found written on the doors of many Asian residents rooms on various floors, Resident Assistants at the most recent of monthly floor meetings said.
"Whether the people who are responsible for this graffiti are doing this with malicious intent, or as a joke, it is hurting people who have lived here and needs to stop," a written letter distributed by the Resident Life Office to resident assistants said.
Not many at the dorms reported having seen the inscriptions. The Residence Life Office, too, released very limited information on the issue. They did not respond to The Envoy's queries, citing confidentiality as a reason for silence.
"There just isn't that much information that was disclosed to us," said a Resident Assistant of one of the affected floors, asking to remain anonymous, given her position of a confidante on the floor.
Sherri Shaarbafan, also an RA, agreed. She also wasn't in the loop, she said.
Still, a sketch of about 20 race-based occurrences of vandalism starting as early as last fall emerges from the bits of information gathered.
The writing "had surfaced in the beginning of the academic year but people didn't quite understand what this had meant, or in what nature it was written. It was originally thought to be something of an inside joke because of its vague nature, but the continual targeting of Asian students had made it a racial issue," said the first RA.
Sometimes, another RA noted, the graffiti even said something to the extent of, "Bad things happen in Chinatown."
Yet, the vandalism isn't reserved for Asian students. "Recently, the attacks have become more frequent and have included other races," the letter to assistants said.
Anticipating more graffiti, the letter also encouraged residents to report any racist writing and take pictures before erasing it.
"These incidents are taken very seriously by the Residence Life office and by the Dean's office at the 68th Street campus and will not be tolerated. We plan on meeting any type of racist comments, graffiti, pictures etc. with strict judicial action," the letter said.
"Whether the people who are responsible for this graffiti are doing this with malicious intent, or as a joke, it is hurting people who have lived here and needs to stop," a written letter distributed by the Resident Life Office to resident assistants said.
Not many at the dorms reported having seen the inscriptions. The Residence Life Office, too, released very limited information on the issue. They did not respond to The Envoy's queries, citing confidentiality as a reason for silence.
"There just isn't that much information that was disclosed to us," said a Resident Assistant of one of the affected floors, asking to remain anonymous, given her position of a confidante on the floor.
Sherri Shaarbafan, also an RA, agreed. She also wasn't in the loop, she said.
Still, a sketch of about 20 race-based occurrences of vandalism starting as early as last fall emerges from the bits of information gathered.
The writing "had surfaced in the beginning of the academic year but people didn't quite understand what this had meant, or in what nature it was written. It was originally thought to be something of an inside joke because of its vague nature, but the continual targeting of Asian students had made it a racial issue," said the first RA.
Sometimes, another RA noted, the graffiti even said something to the extent of, "Bad things happen in Chinatown."
Yet, the vandalism isn't reserved for Asian students. "Recently, the attacks have become more frequent and have included other races," the letter to assistants said.
Anticipating more graffiti, the letter also encouraged residents to report any racist writing and take pictures before erasing it.
"These incidents are taken very seriously by the Residence Life office and by the Dean's office at the 68th Street campus and will not be tolerated. We plan on meeting any type of racist comments, graffiti, pictures etc. with strict judicial action," the letter said.
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