The Bwog
Nostalgic For Fall Semester?
Previous Post | Next Post

Around 3:30 PM, the men's bathroom on the 5th floor of Butler (the one by the east elevator) was promptly closed, locked and surrounded by two police officers and a CU Security official. One B&W staffer overheard the policemen saying that an incident had occurred around 3 PM and heard the cops muttering the words "hate crime." The staffer also reports that the police have not questioned any students on the 5th floor of Butler.

Bwog just finished talking to the police officers and security official, who hastily doled out three "No comment"s and suggested we call Public Safety. Public Saftey, was "not at liberty to say anything." According to the policemen and security official, they have no knowledge of any Univeristy plans to release a statement about the incident.

Check back as the story (maybe?) updates.

UPDATE 6:50 PM: Two more Public Safety officials just showed up to the bathroom, one of whom directed Bwog's questions to James McShane and refused to comment. However, as Bwog was walking away, conversation started up again. The Public Safety official asked the policeman, "How were you guys even notified about this?" The policeman replied that someone had sent an email. "There's a swastika on the wall," he said.

UPDATE 7:11 PM: Another staffer tipped Bwog off to the fact that the second floor men's bathroom has also now been locked. The staffer explains that he was in the bathroom, men rushed in and began photographing the wall of a stall. The men left, locking the door behind them. The third and fourth floor bathrooms remain open. Bwog's been scurrying around Butler for ten minutes and has also noticed that inconvenienced male studiers are not pleased.

UPDATE 8:10 PM: About eight official-ish looking people with reporters' notepads (including two cops) are standing around the second floor bathroom. A third B&W staffer reports that he saw the group looking at printed photographs of the fifth-floor swastika. Both bathrooms are now open, despite signs on their doors proclaiming otherwise.

Read more: Bathroom Reading, Butler, Hate Crimes, Hate Crimes?, Police

May 7, 2008 @ 6:26 PM | Comments 46 comments | Add comment Post a comment | Link to this article | | | Share on Facebook

Posted by so wait: [#1] [reply] [track]
( posted May 7, 2008 at 6:37 PM ) (from campus)
is there a difference between a bias incident and a hate crime? was someone physically hurt, maybe?
Posted by anonymous: [#2] [reply] [track] (in reply to #1)
( posted May 7, 2008 at 6:51 PM )
You're so racist!!! It's enough that someones FEELINGS were hurt!!!
Posted by waiting: [#3] [reply] [track]
( posted May 7, 2008 at 6:56 PM )
god. would it kill you would-be hate crimers would there to come up with something more original than a bathroom swastika next time?
Posted by like maybe: [#4] [reply] [track]
( posted May 7, 2008 at 7:02 PM ) (from campus)
swastika crackers?
Posted by just get back: [#5] [reply] [track]
( posted May 7, 2008 at 7:02 PM ) (from campus)
to studying.
Posted by yes: [#6] [reply] [track] (in reply to #1)
( posted May 7, 2008 at 7:09 PM ) (from campus)
This is technically a hate crime because it's vandalism of private property motivated by hate. A bias incident would be if someone taped a picture of a swastika on the door--not a crime, but still motivated by hate.
Posted by wait, so: [#7] [reply] [track] (in reply to #6)
( posted May 7, 2008 at 7:20 PM ) (from campus)
was all the hullaballoo in the fall because the vandalism was written on walls and such? i mean, if i decide to draw a swastika and make 10,000 copies of it and just post it lots of places, is that a bias incident that no one can do anything about? will prezbo write us all an e-mail about a bias incident where they found out it was me and that i'm a big racist but that they can't do anything to me? (i'm not trying to be an ass, i'm interested in the limits and the rules of when something gets called a crime vs. an incident vs. relatively hateful but free speech)
Posted by right winger: [#8] [reply] [track] (in reply to #6)
( posted May 7, 2008 at 7:36 PM ) (from campus)
What about vandalism of private property motivated by love?

Would that be a love crime?
Posted by hmm: [#9] [reply] [track] (in reply to #7)
( posted May 7, 2008 at 7:38 PM ) (from campus)
Well, I'm not a legal expert or a law student, but I think it depends. If you made 10,000 copies of a swastika and used them to target an individual or a Jewish organization, that could be considered harassment, and a crime. But if you just distributed them around campus it would be a bias incident and the university could punish you (probably expel you) according to its own regulations, but you wouldn't have an official record.
Posted by right winger: [#10] [reply] [track]
( posted May 7, 2008 at 7:41 PM ) (from campus)
see also: [ external link to www.urbandictionary.com ]
Posted by a joke: [#11] [reply] [track]
( posted May 7, 2008 at 7:52 PM ) (from campus)
knock knock!

who's there?

hate crime!

hate crime who? (pause) hate crime who? (opens door and sees 10,000 pasted swastikas) god, damn it.
Posted by WTF who cares: [#12] [reply] [track]
( posted May 7, 2008 at 8:01 PM ) (from campus)
I... what? Aren't we inured to bathroom wall trash by now? However ugly, it's freedom of speech (though illegal defacement of property). Why do we overreact to it?
Posted by LOLhate: [#13] [reply] [track]
( posted May 7, 2008 at 8:25 PM ) (from campus)
im in ur campus, motivatin bad stuff
Posted by inured Jew: [#14] [reply] [track]
( posted May 7, 2008 at 8:34 PM ) (from campus)
Oh God, don't care, don't care, don't care. I think someone just saw the Varsity Show and felt bad for James McShane, so they decided to give him something to do.

Hey, a spicy-a meat-a-ball-a!

Posted by observer: [#15] [reply] [track]
( posted May 7, 2008 at 10:13 PM )
Strange that these things always seem to happen in bathrooms. It's not a Columbia thing by any means. The same thing happened in my high school. There must be something about bathrooms that brings out the Nazi in some people.
Posted by lolcat contingent: [#16] [reply] [track]
( posted May 7, 2008 at 10:19 PM )
ceiling cat is watching you mastur-hate.

hitler-cat approves

Posted by why: [#17] [reply] [track] (in reply to #15)
( posted May 7, 2008 at 10:51 PM ) (from campus)
is it surprising? There's no easier place to scrawl something unnoticed. The cowardice flourishes because of the anonymity.
Posted by privacy: [#18] [reply] [track] (in reply to #15)
( posted May 7, 2008 at 10:51 PM ) (from campus)
well inside of a bathroom stall is one of the few public places where u are guaranteed privacy, so if u want to commit a hate crime in public without the chance of anyone walking in on you, inside a bathroom stall seems logical
Posted by The King of Spain: [#19] [reply] [track] (in reply to #10)
( posted May 7, 2008 at 10:59 PM ) (from campus)
"Killing is killing, it shouldent matter what race the murderer or the dead guy on the floor is."

Posting links to websites full of illiterate people who know nothing about law is sure to prove a point, but I suspect it's not the one you want.

It did make me laugh though. Stupid crackers.
Posted by The King of Spain: [#20] [reply] [track] (in reply to #19)
( posted May 7, 2008 at 11:00 PM ) (from campus)
Oops, that was classist and racist.
Posted by ZvS: [#21] [reply] [track]
( posted May 7, 2008 at 11:04 PM )
Morningside Heights? More like Morningside HATES! Am I right?
Posted by caterina the fifth: [#22] [reply] [track]
( posted May 7, 2008 at 11:35 PM ) (from campus)
why don't they just clean it off? paying attention to this stuff just makes people do it more, i doubt the person who drew it is actually a neo nazi
Posted by uhh: [#23] [reply] [track] (in reply to #19)
( posted May 7, 2008 at 11:40 PM ) (from campus)
i think there's a distinction between what the law says is a crime and what should actually count as a crime.

we may have little choice but to go along with the former, but we can still discuss the latter.

or is this distinction perhaps too complicated for your pathetic little mind... king of spain?
Posted by how is a : [#24] [reply] [track]
( posted May 8, 2008 at 1:25 AM ) (from campus)
swastika necessarily indicative of hatred? and if it were, who cares? i hate like 8 or 9 people, what the fuck is the difference?

this is a hunk of bullshit. stop bothering us.
Posted by hypocrites: [#25] [reply] [track]
( posted May 8, 2008 at 1:29 AM ) (from campus)
I'm assuming the campus police respond the same way every time they discover that someone has written something like "(Insert name) is a fag" on a bathroom stall, right?
Posted by Well-meaning: [#26] [reply] [track]
( posted May 8, 2008 at 1:29 AM )
I thought we lived in America, not swastika.

Yay! Obama '08!

Posted by swoosh: [#27] [reply] [track] (in reply to #9)
( posted May 8, 2008 at 2:13 AM ) (from campus)
On what grounds would the university expel you for distributing swastikas? It'd be a pretty despicable/stupid thing to do, but I'm not aware of a Columbia rule that prevents it. (This could just as easily be my ignorance at play -- I'm genuinely curious.)
Posted by swish: [#28] [reply] [track] (in reply to #27)
( posted May 8, 2008 at 2:27 AM )
By all means, indulge your curiosities. It would be fun to see you suffer the undeniably imminent consequences.
Posted by why is it always: [#29] [reply] [track]
( posted May 8, 2008 at 2:28 AM )
butler w/ the swastikas (back in like 03 as well)? nicholas murray's past haunts the place?

maybe its a jewish student hating on butler's bldg for this: [ external link to www.freerepublic.com ]
Posted by i hate: [#30] [reply] [track]
( posted May 8, 2008 at 2:45 AM )
illinois nazis!
Posted by the : [#31] [reply] [track] (in reply to #27)
( posted May 8, 2008 at 2:47 AM )
university doesn't need rules to expel you. in a private institution you have no rights. crimes can be created ex post facto.

so bollinger would need no justification.
Posted by yapper: [#32] [reply] [track]
( posted May 8, 2008 at 3:16 AM ) (from campus)
I hate hate.
Posted by i once: [#33] [reply] [track]
( posted May 8, 2008 at 3:32 AM ) (from campus)
wrote poop on a bathroom stall. i thought it was meta.
Posted by swoosh: [#34] [reply] [track] (in reply to #31)
( posted May 8, 2008 at 3:51 AM ) (from campus)
Wow, I can tell you've really familiarized yourself with the University's disciplinary procedures.

First, Bollinger doesn't just expel people on a whim. If he tried to -- especially over an issue relating to free expression -- there'd be an unholy outcry.

The Rules of University Conduct (see here: [ external link to www.columbiauniversity.org ] outline the insanely long procedure by which violations at a demonstration are adjudicated on. The president is only involved in the process as an appeal of last resort; the rest is dealt with by the rules administrator, a hearing officer, and/or the judicial board. Also, the rules themselves only refer to time, place, and manner -- not content, like flyers containing swastikas.

In the case of a minor protest violation or any other type of violation (except sexual misconduct), each school has its own 'dean's discipline' process. For CC/SEAS, the guidelines are technically nonbinding but also pretty specific. (See here: [ external link to www.studentaffairs.columbia.edu ] My guess is that it would take something fairly extraordinary for the school to circumvent its own procedures or make up rules, because doing so often would invite more uproar.

So while legally an private institution can kick out anyone it so desires, Columbia happens to have a set of self-imposed rules/guidelines for situations like these. And my point was that there doesn't seem to be any rule making 'distribution of controversial material' a violation, unless I'm missing something. (Vandalism, on the other hand, is a violation.)
Posted by Really? Well: [#35] [reply] [track] (in reply to #33)
( posted May 8, 2008 at 4:09 AM )
I'm the guy who draws the fairly realistic face, except for the enormous cock nose and scrotum cheeks, on every stall, in every public restroom in the entire world.

And I do it to promote tolerance, too. Go figure.

Posted by meh: [#36] [reply] [track]
( posted May 8, 2008 at 6:29 AM ) (from campus)
Happy Birthday, Israel!
Posted by jeez: [#37] [reply] [track]
( posted May 8, 2008 at 8:41 AM ) (from campus)
we look like such IDIOTS caring what's written on bathroom walls.

JUST WASH IT OFF.

Posted by but: [#38] [reply] [track] (in reply to #37)
( posted May 8, 2008 at 10:13 AM ) (from campus)
THE HATE WILL BE THERE FOREVER EVEN IF WE WASH OFF ITS PHYSICAL MANIFESTATION. WE ARE PERMANENTLY SCARRED. OUR BATHROOMS WILL ALWAYS BE BASTIONS OF HATE. HOW COULD YOU BE SO CALLOUS?
Posted by at least: [#39] [reply] [track]
( posted May 8, 2008 at 12:25 PM ) (from campus)
the dude didn't piss all over the seat

i mean come on
Posted by Pro/con: [#40] [reply] [track] (in reply to #37)
( posted May 8, 2008 at 12:48 PM ) (from campus)
On the one hand, treating the symptoms won't address the problem. On the other, as symptoms go this is, yes, pretty benign in both its ineffectiveness and its cowardice. So I dunno.

Once upon a time graffiti everywhere was a warning of worse things to come. We'd all like to think we've advanced beyond that era. I mean hey, nobody in the University has actually died from a hate crime since, uh... well, April. But that was those nasty neighborhood kids! It's not indicative of anything on OUR enlightened campus, amirite.
Posted by DHI: [#41] [reply] [track]
( posted May 8, 2008 at 1:16 PM ) (from campus)
Man, just revandalize the swatika into a diamond made of four small diamonds and then write RHOMBUS or some shit because you can't call a diamond a diamond in the field of GEOMETRY

Posted by Alum: [#42] [reply] [track]
( posted May 8, 2008 at 3:17 PM )
At least this time no one has accused Madonna Constantine.
Posted by that's: [#43] [reply] [track] (in reply to #42)
( posted May 8, 2008 at 3:45 PM ) (from campus)
because she wouldn't know where to find a library.
Posted by HATE! HATE! HATE!: [#44] [reply] [track]
( posted May 8, 2008 at 6:14 PM ) (from campus)
...i hate you all.
Posted by Damn: [#45] [reply] [track] (in reply to #41)
( posted May 8, 2008 at 6:37 PM )
Where's the GEOMETER when you need him?
Posted by Maybe: [#46] [reply] [track]
( posted May 9, 2008 at 1:15 PM ) (from campus)
It was an attempt to commiserate with other Butler-dwellers during finals time. Remember, the swastika was a symbol of good luck for hundreds of years, and in the early 1900's Americans used it all over the place.

Work with me here, I'm trying to be optimistic!
Name:
(Log In | Register your identity)

Email:
Reply to:

Describe this color in one lowercase word.

About Us

Bwog is compiled by the staff of The Blue and White, Columbia University's undergraduate magazine. [ more ]

Contact Us

Please send tips to bwgossip@columbia.edu.

Questions or concerns? Email bweditors@columbia.edu.

Bwog is always looking for new writing talent. Email bwog@columbia.edu.

In Print

Search

Comment Policy

Our Favorite Comments

alice: [read]
"Maybe you're just getting bigger."
or perhaps: [read]
"chaste slut"

Bwogroll

National Blogs
IvyGate
Papertrail
Open University
Wonkette

City Blogs
Gothamist
Gawker
Craigslist
City Room (New York Times)
Overheard in New York
Community Board 9
Stop Columbia
Eater
Curbed

Other School Blogs
Wesleying
Gadfly (Harvard)
MadsVassarBlog
Sex and the Ivy (Harvard)
Elliot Back (Cornell)

Columbia Blogs
WikiCU
Light Reading
GS Lounge
Columbian Cokane
The Hungry Lion
Roar Lions Roar
Phlog
the(pro)be
EcoReps
Columbia Dems
The Blaaag
Editor Josh
The One Train
Lumilux
Bored@Butler
Five Plus One
The Columbia Critic
Queued Paper
The Columns
ReflectivePundit
wang.
2nd Law
el participante Commentariat
The Core Junction
Off Broadway
CollegeOTR
Greater or Smaller
The Mayor's Hotel
Barnard Zines
Peter and Rob Make Lists of Things

Technical

Our headlines are syndicated through Atom.
This site is powered by the Publicate Content Management System, which is available for free.
Our interface icons are from the free Silk set.