Swastika Painted on Building at Bowie State University, Students Rally in Protest 

As this wild week in American education continues, a large swastika was found painted on a building at Bowie State University, a historically Black college in Maryland. The swastika was spray-painted on a communications building named for Martin Luther King Jr.

An image of the swastika was tweeted by a BSU student:

About 100 students led a rally Thursday night in protest of the swastika. It was quickly painted over, and no one has yet taken responsibility for it.

Meanwhile, as the Washington Post reports, as protests at Yale and University of Missouri continue, there have also been new threats at Howard University, another historically Black school: “In an anonymous letter posted online Wednesday evening, someone claiming to have ‘left MU yesterday’ threatened to shoot black students at Howard on Thursday.”

There have also been protests against perceived institutional racism at Claremont McKenna, where a dean stepped down Thursday after her email to a Latina student sparked outrage. The dean, Mary Spellman, emailed a Latina student that she would work to serve students who “don’t fit our CMC mold.”

The comments sparked hunger strikes from two students. The L.A. Times reports the email was a tipping point after months of students calling for more diverse faculty and more funding for multicultural student services.

Students at Ithaca College in upstate New York are also protesting, calling for the resignation of President Tom Rochon.

Perhaps hoping to head off protests, Ithaca announced Thursday it was adding the position of “chief diversity officer,” but student protesters issued a statement calling it insufficient:

A chief diversity officer is needed at this institution but the fact that it comes today shows that in turmoil. President Rochon is first to step forward and pass responsibility and accountability off to someone else. President Rochon is the person who needs to be held accountable, not a new person brought in. Rochon is supposed to be the person who understands the community most, but he in fact is the person who understands it the least.

Finally, students at Boston College held a large solidarity march Thursday night in support of students at other schools.

The Founders Library at Howard University. Image via Flickr/NCinDC by Creative Commons License