Chalk is for more than child’s play and blackboards, as it turns out.
The Daily Gazette, Swarthmore’s independent student publication, brought to the attention of the college’s community the defacing of a wall directly at the entrance of Worth Courtyard, tainted earlier today with homophobic language written in chalk that read, “Queer Dorms” and “Tits.” The writing then pointed with an arrow to the nearby Worth Hall and “Lodges,” conveying a disturbingly straightforward message of “Kill em’ all [sic].”
Local students and activists around the country are left wondering just who the ambiguous “all” entails.
“This hateful activity is harmful not only to LGBTQ students, but to the student body as a whole,” said Joy Horner, deputy director of the Pennsylvania Student Equality Coalition (PSEC). “This is a safety threat to the campus at large, and should be of everyone’s concern.”
Swarthmore administration officials have since denounced the act, insisting that the university is looking to take more aggressive action against hate speech going forward.
“…Swarthmore is not a community that will tolerate hate or threats against any member of our community,” Dean of Students Liz Braun said in a statement. “There is more work to be done.”
The college had a similar pair of occurrences last month; first during a “Pub Nite,” when a guest stood on a bench waving the Confederate flag, chanting and drawing negative attention from the event’s attendees, and again when a slew of homophobic slurs were written on David Kemp – a Swarthmore dorm building. The administration’s then-lukewarm response to the two incidents has manifested in increased tension between students and administrators leading into today’s events.
Will Lawrence, a witness of the chalk writings and student at Swarthmore, expressed concern to The Daily Gazette that these instances will only continue if the administration does not produce stronger reactions.
“Considering that this seems to be becoming a pattern, we really need to develop an immediate response mechanism among the students that will allow the community to denounce hate speech and express support for those who were targeted,” Lawrence said.
If history is in fact meant to repeat itself, this won’t be the last we see of this controversy at Swarthmore. For the sake of student safety and civic justice, we hope Swarthmore administrators will take these issues more seriously than they have in the past.
Brandon Baker is the Director of Communications for the Pennsylvania Student Equality Coalition (PSEC). Brandon can be contacted at bbaker@pennsec.org.