Early this week, a swastika was found scratched into a glass surface in an elevator at SouthSide Commons. It was reported to the Lehigh University Police Department (LUPD), who immediately covered the hateful symbol, worked with the management of SouthSide Commons to initiate steps to have the glass surface repaired and began an investigation to identify the responsible individuals.
LUPD made multiple checks of the building that night and found that another swastika appeared in the same elevator, on the same surface, on top of the covering placed there earlier in the day. This was a choice—an attempt to intimidate and sow fear.
Shocking. Brazen. Hateful. Hurtful. This is what comes to mind. It is unfathomable to me that someone within the Lehigh community would do this intentionally.
And yet it has happened. The depiction of this overt antisemitic symbol of hate follows racist incidents earlier this semester. It is another stark reminder of the work we must do to combat hate in all its forms on our campus. The work we must do to combat hate in our communities, and in our country.
Acts of hate will not be tolerated at Lehigh. We are actively doing everything possible to identify those responsible and will hold the individual or individuals accountable. I echo the call for members of the campus community to come forward with any information to assist us in bringing those responsible to light. We remain focused first and foremost on the safety of our students.
We can bring a stop to this if we are each willing to accept our responsibility in cultivating a campus free of hate—and when it happens, stand up, call it out, and say both individually and collectively that this is unacceptable. This must end.
As I stated in my note to campus just last month—we have work to do.
I ask us as a community to reaffirm our dedication to the principles that define us. To become active citizens in the community we want Lehigh University to be. To remind one another that we will not tolerate hate. To work without hesitation to ensure that we will remain, always, a community of belonging, inclusivity and mutual respect.
Joseph J. Helble ’82
President, Lehigh University
