The library was having a casual spring day. The librarian assistants did their daily rounds of searching the study rooms for garbage and found a disturbing sight: A swastika, drawn in expo marker on the ceiling tile of room 153. Since this finding, Solano Community College has opened an investigation for hate crime charges against the alleged vandal.
The swastika, a known hate symbol used by the Nazi party, was found on the ceiling around 6:45 pm via library assistant Kelsuy Collins.
Collins stated, “I read the message on the board and I looked up. I thought ‘that’s definitely not good’ and I took a picture. I showed it to my manager.”
While no formal arrests have been made, the library is currently making plans to be more vigilant against vandalism for the future.
Ruth Fuller, a librarian for Solano Community College, explained, “When there’s a change over in students, our student worker will check the room and make sure it’s clean. They’ll check for garbage and make sure if the table needs to be wiped, but the ironic thing was that the swastika was on the ceiling.” She added, “That’s how we don’t know who it was…Because it was on the ceiling. We now know to check the room more thoroughly.”
While the motivations of the alleged vandal are currently unknown, speculation was provided by Fuller.
Fuller reflected on the current state of the world, “I think it’s the culture we’re living in right now. Ya know, this stuff is really being brought to the forefront and it’s okay to express it.”
Meanwhile, the Department of Public Safety (DPS) has been conducting a formal investigation into the matter. The DPS is currently looking to charge the vandal with a hate crime and are planning to “pursue the matter to the fullest extent.”
While not many details have been revealed, DPS Chief Brian Travis stated to The Solano Pulse, “We appreciate The Solano Pulse’s attention to this matter. However, as this is an active investigation, we are unable to provide further comment at this time in order to protect the integrity of the investigative process.”
Travis continued, “DPS will pursue the matter to the fullest extent permitted by law. We take this incident extremely seriously. Hate has no place here!”
This note was then further corroborated by various members of staff, including Vice President of Student Services Lisa Neeley. Neeley is also the Student Code of Conduct Officer, who is currently a part of the investigation.
She discussed, “I’m the student conduct officer, we want to ensure that due process is observed for all the parties involved. There’s sometimes confidentiality and privacy regulations that we also have to follow, but really it’s making sure we do a proper investigation…”
“Even though we have certain rules and regs for a reason, I think really the goal is to make sure we’re all working together as an inclusive community as one of respect. Sometimes, things happen that aren’t necessarily in line with that. I want to give folks a chance to change the behavior, and to understand the impact of the behavior.” Neeley added.
She concluded, “I’m sort of guided by that restorative justice idea. The goal is to keep students in the classroom and to keep everybody safe.”
Alongside the campus police and the Student Affairs Office, administration has been working to address the vandalism controversy. Superintendent President Kellie Butler released a statement at 12:16 pm via emails condemning the actions of the vandal.
Butler wrote, “Hate has no place here! Solano College is committed to ensuring that every member of our community feels safe, respected, and supported. It is our mission ‘to educate a culturally and academically diverse student population drawn from our local communities and beyond.’”
She added, “We recognize the inherent dignity in everyone, and we value our shared humanity, our diverse and intersecting identities, everyone’s right to exist, and the protection of spaces and environments that support learning and working for everyone.”
Officials have been busy working on figuring out who did this, however the student community still expressed their own concerns. Teddy Seierth, a student, expressed his own concern about this incident.
“That just made the hair on my neck stand up a little bit, that’s a bit scary. I don’t know if it’s out of hate or for attention…I just hope it doesn’t happen again.” Seierth stated.
A common sentiment that is seen has been fear. Others claimed the vandalism was just for attention.
Fellow student Elliot Wai expressed his thoughts with the recent vandalism, “People just kinda do things and they think it’s funny, they don’t understand what they’re doing half the time or the meaning of their actions.”
Correction: Titles of Brian Travis, Kellie Butler, and Lisa Neeley have been corrected.
