Racist Graffiti Scrawled on Wall In Thayer Hall

Thayer Hall residents were angered this week by racist graffiti which appeared on the first floor Monday, reading "Niggers go home."

The graffiti, scrawled in black magic marker on the wall near the custodial closet on the first floor of Thayer Hall, was found by residents Monday afternoon, according to Associate Dean of Freshmen W.C. Burriss Young '55.

The words were quickly taped over with paper and were washed off the wall on Tuesday.

Thayer residents reported the incident to Young, who conducted an investigation Monday night.

"Someone tried to wipe it off," he said. "It was quite faint."

Young said he and Kyriell Muhammad, a proctor on the first floor of Thayer, posted a note near the site calling the graffiti "deplorable."

About 20 Thayer residents also signed the message written by Young and Muhammad, according to Young.

"It was pretty shocking," said John A. Sheriff'99, who lives in Thayer 105, next to the custodial closet on which the message was written.

Sheriff said he subsigned the message to "let whoever wrote the graffiti that the community deplores what they've written."

Other residents also expressed disappointment and outrage.

"I was shocked that people would express themselves that way," said Scott M. Schechter '99, who lives in Thayer 106. "People were angry about it."

Ismail J. Ramsey '89, a proctor on the fourth floor of Thayer said it was a "shame" that intelligent students would express their feelings in such a socially-divisive manner.

"I was upset about it," said Ramsey, who is African-American. "Although I am aware that these incidents have occurred on campus, this is the first time I have seen or encountered it specifically where I live."

"People should acknowledge this happened and has happened before," he said. "I think people could use it as an impetus to invoke change to address some problems on campus regarding hate speech."

Offensive graffiti was found in Mather House this March, when somebody scratched the letters "KKK" in the door of an elevator in Mather Tower.

Ramsey said the dorm did not have a formal meeting to discuss what happened but that he and other proctors had spoken to some students about it.

"Hopefully the fact that this has occurred at the end of the year during exams won't cause people to ignore the significance of the event," Ramsey said.

Young said he and Muhammad planned to door drop a letter to all Thayer residents today.

"Such hateful displays cannot be tolerated by this community," Young and Muhammad wrote in the letter, which was obtained by The Crimson yesterday afternoon.

"Although it was completely cleaned off the next day, this message has left a trace which will always remain there for those who saw it there," they wrote. "Hate and ignorance do not respond to graffiti-cleaners, no matter how vigorously applied."

"What they do react to, we believe, is the anger, hurt, and disbelief represented by the twenty-something names of Thayer students subsigned by the next morning" wrote Young and Muhammad in their message.