Vandals spray painted a swastika on the hood of a car outside the Kappa Alpha fraternity house earlier this week, police said, an incident they are treating as a possible hate crime.
University Police Spokesman Paul Dillon said police aren’t certain whether the students who own the cars were singled out. None of them are Jewish and other cars that were apparently vandalized by the same perpetrators were parked close to one another, which may suggest they were chosen at random.
Dillon said officers were informed of the crime 10 a.m. Monday, but the vehicles were probably vandalized the night before. Investigators are reviewing security tapes, but police haven’t identified any suspects, he said.
“We don’t know why they were vandalized,” Dillon said. “It’s been assigned to our investigations unit asall hate incidents are and it is being investigated.”
The incident comes on the heels of a hate crime that was apparently aimed at the Nyumburu Cultural Center earlier this month. A noose hung in a tree outside the center sparked outrage in the university community and raised questions about racism and diversity on the campus.
Police have not made any arrests in that case.
Senior Max Behlke, a government and politics major, called the incident upsetting last night, as he stood over his red Firebird, a white swastika marking the hood and white paint smeared down the side.
“It’s pretty embarrassing to drive around College Park with a swastika on your car,” Behlke said.
Two parking spots down from Behlke’s car sat a red Jeep Wrangler with a phallic symbol scrawled across the hood. The third car, which wasn’t present when a reporter visited the house last night, also had a penis on the hood, Behlke said.
“They’re just as happy riding around College Park with penises on their cars,” Behlke added sarcastically.
He used a towel to cover the Nazi symbol while it was parked in front of the fraternity house and said he plans to have the car appraised today for a paint job. But the drive to and from the main campus yesterday was humiliating, he said.
“I’ve had it covered up, but when I was driving by Leonardtown, people were looking at me funny,” Behlke said. “I hope they’re not mad at me.”
Officers told Behlke his car prompted a number of phone calls to University Police, he said.
“It’s sad to think here we are well into the 21st century and this stuff is still going on,” Behlke said. “It’s really sad that such a great school has these incidents.”
He added, “Everybody’s targeted, it’s not one race or religion.”
The incident did not merit a crime alert or notification of the campus community, Dillon said, because unlike the noose incident, it did not pose a large-scale threat.
“We did not think this incident presented any danger to our community at large,” Dillon said.
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