Graffiti at BU Hillel Being Investigated as Possible Hate Crime by BUPD, Suffolk County DA
A window at BU Hillel was defaced with the phrase “Free Palestine.”
BUPD Chief Robert Lowe says that police officers received a call just before 5 pm Tuesday evening from staff members at BU Hillel, who told them that someone “tagged” an exterior window of the building.
Graffiti at BU Hillel Being Investigated as Possible Hate Crime by BUPD, Suffolk County DA
A window at BU Hillel was defaced with the phrase “Free Palestine”
The Boston University Police Department and the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office are investigating a possible hate crime on Boston University’s campus, after someone wrote “Free Palestine” on the window of BU Hillel Tuesday evening.
Because the Florence & Chafetz Hillel House at Boston University is a house of worship that holds regular religious services, as well as a community center and a building associated with an educational facility, the vandalism may rise to the level of a hate crime, a DA spokesperson said. It’s the location of the graffiti, not necessarily the language used, that would qualify it under the law, the spokesperson said.
“This defacement was a targeted act and we will work closely with BU police to identify, arrest, and prosecute the person responsible,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “Our message is clear: hate crimes in any form are intolerable and anyone charged with committing them will pay the consequences.”
Robert Lowe, chief of the BU Police Department, says that police officers received a call just before 5 pm Tuesday evening from staff members at Hillel House on Bay State Road, who told them that “an unknown person had tagged an exterior window of the building.”
Police arrived to find the words “Free Palestine” written on the window with what appeared to be a permanent marker, Lowe says. The graffiti overlaid a blue and white sign that was posted inside the window, designed to replicate the Israeli flag, that reads, “We Stand with Israel.” The writing was removed by employees from BU’s Facilities Management & Operations Wednesday morning.
It’s unknown if the graffiti was committed by a person with any affiliation to BU. “Separately from any action taken by local authorities,” Jason Campbell-Foster, BU dean of students, says, “if a student is determined to be responsible for this act, they will be held accountable under University procedures.”
Kenneth Freeman, BU president ad interim, credits the BUPD and the Suffolk County DA’s Office for their prompt action and the seriousness with which they took the incident. “We will not tolerate violence, threats directed at individuals, or acts that constitute hate crimes,” Freeman says. “And we will take all possible measures to keep our campus safe. Our public safety team is working with the Suffolk County District Attorney on the investigation; we are grateful for the timely response.”
The graffiti incident occurred against the backdrop of heightened global tensions stemming from the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. An October 7 attack and hostage-taking mission by Hamas terrorists, which Israel says killed at least 1,400 people, sparked a heavy military response from Israel that has included missile strikes and a ground invasion of the Palestinian territory of Gaza. The Ministry of Health in Gaza says those strikes have killed more than 10,000.
The conflict has captured the attention of world leaders and their citizens, as protests erupt worldwide. As microcosms of these larger dynamics, college campuses across the United States have been forced to reckon with passionate expressions of support or protest on the part of Israel or Palestine, and college leaders have been criticized for either speaking out forcefully for Israel and condemning Hamas, or for not speaking out enough.
“As an extra level of review, we are partnering with the Suffolk County DA’s office to ensure we’re appropriately assessing these incidents,” Lowe says. Investigators at the district attorney’s office are “the subject-matter experts” in civil rights violations and hate crimes, he says. “Having the DA’s office as a resource has been a tremendous help to BUPD.”
According to Massachusetts General Laws, a hate crime is “any criminal act coupled with overt actions motivated by bigotry and bias including, but not limited to, a threatened, attempted or completed overt act motivated at least in part by racial, religious, ethnic, handicap, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation prejudice, or which otherwise deprives another person of his constitutional rights by threats, intimidation or coercion, or which seek to interfere with or disrupt a person’s exercise of constitutional rights through harassment or intimidation.”
“BUPD will not tolerate any acts of violence or damage to property, and we’re going to dedicate all of the resources we have to identify all individuals engaged in violence or similar behavior and hold them accountable,” Lowe says.
Hillel House and its organizers aim to “inspire, educate, and empower Boston University students to lead meaningful, joyous Jewish lives,” according to the organization’s mission statement.
Lowe urges anyone who has information related to this incident to contact the BUPD: 617-353-2121.
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