UPDATED: Nov. 11 at 10:25 p.m.

New York state Gov. Andrew Cuomo directed a state police task force to investigate racial slurs written in a Syracuse University residence hall. 

Racial slurs against black and Asian people were written on two floors of Day Hall on Wednesday. The Hate Crimes Task Force and the state’s Division of Human Rights will help local authorities investigate the messages, according to a Monday night press release from Cuomo. 

“I’m disgusted by the recent rash of hateful language found scrawled on the walls at Syracuse University, where students from around the world are drawn each year in the pursuit of higher learning,” Cuomo said in the release. “These types of hateful and bigoted actions seek to splinter and segregate our communities, and they have no place in New York – period.”

Ceiling lights in bathrooms on Day’s sixth floor were pulled out and put in a toilet on Wednesday night. The N-word was written on part of the light, at least one mirror on the floor and on garbage cans. A slur against Asian people was also written on a bulletin board on Day’s fourth floor.

Residents of Day’s fourth and sixth floors had at least two meetings since Wednesday. One meeting held Sunday with residents of both floors included Department of Public Safety Chief Bobby Maldonado and Chief Diversity Officer Keith Alford, according to multiple sources.

Several students told The Daily Orange that a university official told them not to record the Sunday meeting. An announcement wasn’t sent to the campus community until about 5:20 p.m. on Monday.

A DPS investigation is ongoing, said Rob Hradsky, vice president for the student experience, in the email.  The university regrets “not communicating more broadly,” Hradsky said.

Maldonado said in a Monday night statement that DPS is actively investigating the incident. DPS is working with the Syracuse Police Department and welcomes the support of the state police, Maldonado said.

“We will do everything in our power to prosecute those responsible to the fullest extent of the law,” Cuomo said in Monday’s press release.

This post was updated with additional reporting.

Published on November 11, 2019 at 8:01 pm

Contact India: irmiragl@syr.edu