During the week of November 16, two separate incidents of hate graffiti were found in washrooms on Wilfrid Laurier’s Waterloo campus. Graffiti in question included derogatory and threatening messages aimed towards Black and Jewish students, as well as two images of swastikas and the phrase “White Power” etched into a washroom wall.
This is absolutely unacceptable and will not be tolerated.
Students alerted authorities and the graffiti was immediately erased. We would like to thank the students who reported these incidents. We are thankful that our students recognize the impact of this type of graffiti, and that they had the courage to ask that this be addressed immediately. We are also grateful to Special Constables Services, Student Leadership and Conduct, Physical Resources, and the Diversity and Equity Office staff who worked diligently, efficiently and collaboratively to ensure that harm was minimized in each of these instances.
Despite the care we take in our responses to the hate graffiti and the swift removal of the messages from Wilfrid Laurier University washroom walls, what we are unable to erase is the harm that messages like this pose for the university community.
We are particularly concerned that both incidents occurred during a single week and that they arose approximately three weeks after posters for LSPIRG’s “I am not a costume” campaign were also defaced, the word “not” being crossed out with permanent marker. As members of Laurier’s senior administration team, we do not accept this behaviour and will do our utmost to provide support to all students, faculty and staff impacted by these events.
With a rise in media attention to anti-Muslim, anti-Black, and anti-Jewish sentiments, Wilfrid Laurier University is on high alert for such incidents and will not tolerate continued defacement of university property to write messages of hate. It is our goal to develop and support an authentic culture of inclusion at Laurier and while this goal may prove to be challenging, we will continue to work collaboratively to make this a reality.
As an initial response to the incidents of hate on campus, we have begun developing programming for e(RACE)r: An Annual Summit on Race and Racism on Canadian University Campuses.” This inaugural summit will be held at Wilfrid Laurier University on March 21