Students identified as vandals behind pro-Trump graffiti on Rice campus

Vandals spray painted and marked up several items at Rice University in Houston. The school says it has identified the students responsible.

Rice University students Achal Srinivasan, left, and Jake Hansen take photographs of the vandalized Berlin Wall memorial outside Baker Institute for Public Policy on Friday, January 13, in Houston. The spray paint graffiti read "Trump 16" and "Aloha!" (Yi-Chin/ Houston Chronicle) less Vandals spray painted and marked up several items at Rice University in Houston. The school says it has identified the students responsible.

Rice University students Achal Srinivasan, left, and Jake Hansen take ... more Photo: Yi-Chin Lee / Houston Chronicle /Houston Chronicle Photo: Yi-Chin Lee / Houston Chronicle /Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 33 Caption Close Students identified as vandals behind pro-Trump graffiti on Rice campus 1 / 33 Back to Gallery

The vandals behind the pro-Trump graffiti on Rice University campus have been identified as current students at the Houston college, according to authorities.

Controversy and outrage erupted Friday after police discovered "Trump 16" and other scrawling appeared on the Berlin Wall memorial outside the Baker Institute for Public Policy.

The same night, "#DeportSpanos" and "TRUMP BABY!" were scribbled on a mural fastened to the side of the Moody Center shipping containers.

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While the vandalized mural was removed Friday, a university spokesman said the Berlin Wall segment would be covered until a professional art conservator could remove the scrawl.

The new vandalism covered the original message "Salut mes amis," which was painted before the wall fell in 1989.

The memorial has been in place on Rice campus since 2000.

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As news of the vandalism spread through social media, students, alumni and locals were outraged.

"THIS is deplorable," wrote one Facebook user.

"It breaks my heart to see that Rice students apparently did this terrible thing," wrote another.

The university soundly condemned the students' "appalling" actions.

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"Vandalism of an important symbol of freedom and of student art are deeply concerning," President David Leebron and Provost Marie Lynn Miranda said in a campus-wide statement released Saturday night.

"We ask everyone in our community to join us in condemning such behavior and to work together to prevent such hostile acts and to protect the Rice property that contributes so much to our experience and quality of life."

The statement did not name the students involved or specify whether they would face charges.

Houston Chronicle reporter Lindsay Ellis contributed to this report.

>>>Click through the gallery to see the damage and images of other, more creative graffiti.