Antisemitic and anti-gay graffiti that was discovered on Friday at Brown University. Photo: Will Hart via Flickr.com.

JNS.org – The administration of Brown University has launched an investigation into antisemitic and anti-gay graffiti that was discovered on Friday on two campus buildings. A university spokesman told the Providence Journal that the buildings house Beta Rho Pi, a Jewish fraternity, and Zeta Delta Xi, a coed fraternity with many LGBT members.

In a letter sent to students on Saturday, the University explained that after students in both buildings “found multiple instances of homophobic, anti-Semitic, and threatening graffiti written on the walls, hallways, and bathrooms of their on-campus home…the students contacted the Administrator on Call, and Public Safety responded immediately to address the situation and to investigate the incident.”

“While the graffiti has been removed, the impact of identity-based bias and threat is not easily wiped away. This incident impacts not only those immediately involved, but threatens our shared sense of safety and respect on campus,” the letter stated.

In a separate statement by Brown University President Christina Paxson, the president expressed “what I know, undoubtedly, so many of us across campus are feeling — frustration, distress and outrage that an act perpetrated by a sole or small group of individuals has threatened the deep-rooted commitment to creating a just, diverse and inclusive community that we share at this university.”

Brian Clark, Director of News and Editorial Development at BU, told Campus Reform that the University will not say what the graffiti stated exactly to “avoid further insult to the members of the Brown community.”

It has not been determined whether the graffiti is connected to the cancellation of a planned lecture by a black, transgender activist in response to a petition calling to exclude Hillel from sponsoring the lecture because “Hillel as a corporation has consistently defended and even advocated for the Israeli state’s policies of occupation and racial apartheid,” reported Inside Higher Education.