Meghan Holden

Journal & Courier

A swastika and anti-Semitic slur were found on a whiteboard in Heavilon Hall at Purdue University on Monday.

College of Liberal Arts Dean David Reingold sent an email to staff and faculty on Tuesday speaking out against the offensive drawing and note, according to an email obtained by the Journal & Courier.

"This type of hateful expression is repulsive and outside of the bounds of civil discourse. It has no place in the College of Liberal Arts and Purdue University," Reingold wrote. "I know firsthand the human cost of virulent hate. Many in my family died during the horrors of World War II."

He added CLA and Purdue are committed to free speech that respects and embraces differences.

Reingold said he didn't have anything to add beyond what was addressed in the email, Purdue spokesman Brian Zink said.

Zink said the message was written on a small whiteboard outside an office for the American Studies program on Heavilon Hall's ground floor sometime between 3:30 p.m. on March 4 and 7:30 a.m. March 7.

This isn't the first time offensive slurs and images have shown up on campus.

Someone defaced a photo at the Krannert School of Management of the late black alumnus Cornell Bell and wrote a racial slur above his name in 2012.

Purdue police in 2013 also investigated a racial slur and stick figure drawing of a body hanging from a tree etched on a poster left over from a demonstration held by students, staff and faculty to raise awareness about inequality at the university.

Reingold finished his email with a request to stand together despite differences.

"Let us put aside ideological orientations and rhetoric and stand united by our shared belief in the highest ideals of the modern university," he wrote.

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