INDIANAPOLIS -- School administrators found swastikas Tuesday at two Indiana universities.
The symbols were found at Purdue University and the University of Indianapolis.
UIndy President Robert L. Manuel sent a letter to students and faculty after the symbol was found on a bust of Chinese painter Au Ho-nien.
"I am proud of our tradition of respectfully and openly engaging in discussions about the most critical issues of our time," Manuel wrote. "In direct contrast to our efforts to celebrate our diversity, I was recently made aware that someone scratched a swastika on the bust of Au Ho-nien, located in Schwitzer Student Center. The incident is currently under investigation. Such an act is against every core value on which our University stands; yet it reminds us we are not immune to intolerance and hate. UIndy has not and will never tolerate such behavior."
Purdue administrators said a swastika was found along with an anti-Semitic slur on a whiteboard in Heavilon Hall, according to the Lafayette Journal & Courier.
Purdue College of Liberal Arts Dean David Reingold sent the following message via email Tuesday:
Yesterday, several of our colleagues came to the office to be confronted by a swastika and anti-semitic slur written on a whiteboard in the American Studies Program. This type of hateful expression is repulsive and outside of the bounds of civil discourse. It has no place in the College of Liberal Arts and Purdue University.
I know firsthand the human cost of virulent hate. Many in my family died during the horrors of World War II. The College of Liberal Arts and Purdue University are committed to free and open inquiry, while embracing and respecting our differences. I ask that we re-double our efforts to ensure we live up to our commitment to each other and to this university by engaging in meaningful dialogue, analysis, criticism and creative activity.
The perpetrators of the vandalism hadn't been found, and it wasn't immediately clear whether the incidents were related.
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