Stanford police investigating antisemitic drawing as hate crime

Stanford University is investigating the drawing of swastikas and an image resembling Adolf Hitler in a dorm building last week as a hate crime.

The investigation was prompted by reports that a Jewish student “found multiple swastikas and an image modified to resemble Adolf Hitler drawn on a white board that was affixed to their personal dormitory door,” according to a statement from the university.

The incident is now being investigated by the Stanford Department of Public Safety as “a crime motivated by hate.” 

“Purposely intimidating and threatening people based on protected identities is antithetical to Stanford’s values,” the statement said. “Antisemitsim and other acts of hate and intolerance are unacceptable on this campus.”

The discovery of the drawings follows a series of racist and antisemitic vandalisms on the campus over the last month. Late February, school officials were made aware of swastikas and racist language scratched into a metal panel on a bathroom wall. In early March, officials received reports of a similar incident — a swastika with “KKK” written around it was carved into another bathroom wall on campus. Those incidents are also being investigated as hate crimes.

The release said the incidents do not seem to be related.

The incidents at Stanford come as the Anti-Defamation League tracked a significant increase in white supremacist propaganda last year, including the doubling of antisemitic propaganda, according to one of the organization’s reports. However, incidents on campuses actually sank to new lows; the organization tracked 219 incidents on campuses in 2022 — the lowest number since it began tracking in 2017.