Last week residents of Hinman Community’s Cleveland Hall discovered that hateful speech had been scribbled across several of the building’s doors. The scrawling targeted Jews and African Americans in the building, with swastikas and other graffiti strewn throughout one of the floors.

“As a staff, we’re taking the incident very seriously and personally,�? said Mary Gleason, Cleveland’s residential director.

The graffiti — which contained explicit language and a derogatory term for African Americans — and swastikas were drawn sometime Sept. 19 across the resident assistant’s door, as well as two other doors in the hall.

After returning home from dinner, the residents, who asked to remain anonymous, first noticed the slurs on their own door, and then saw the swastikas on their RA’s door. They notified the police; later that evening, two more swastikas were found on a different door on the same floor, with the phrase “Hail Hitler,�? according to the floor’s residential assistant.

Initially, the RA, who also asked to remain anonymous to protect the identity of residents on her floor, contacted Hillel at Binghamton and the Black Student Union in an effort to organize programs to work through the issues. The program was originally scheduled for Monday evening, but was postponed for Tuesday, Oct. 3, according to Hillel President Devorah Serkin.

“We arranged the program so that Hillel would work with the residential staff and would be supportive of the students affected,�? said Serkin. “We want to let the students know there are people they can turn to that know this is not OK.�?

By working with Hillel and BSU, the residential staff hopes to increase awareness of hate crimes, and let students know that although they are rare, incidents still occur.

“The idea behind the program is that dealing with the real world does not have to be a fight by yourself,�? the RA said.

In a letter released to the student body yesterday through B-Line, Binghamton University president Lois B. DeFleur referred to the incidents and offered advice on where to turn for students who felt negatively affected.

“At Binghamton University, hate- or bias-motivated behaviors are viewed as attacks on the entire community and run counter to our principles and values,�? wrote DeFleur. “We condemn them in the strongest possible terms and they have no place on our campus.�?

Binghamton’s State University Police are still investigating the case.

To the victims, the incident is indicative of larger race-relations issues on campus.

“It’s really sad that on this campus all races stick together and don’t make an effort to step outside of their race or socialize with others,�? one said. “It makes me uncomfortable. I don’t know how many times it needs to be stated that we’re all the same, just in different shades.�?

BUPD