For the second time this academic year, the University of Southern Maine is investigating anti-Muslim graffiti found on its Portland campus.
On Tuesday, the words “Kill the Muslin” (sic) were found scribbled on a poster teaching students how to respond in case there’s an “active shooter” on campus, according to USM spokesman Robert Stein.
The writing was placed above one of the characters on the poster which showed someone hitting a gunman with a chair.
University officials say they do not know whether the graffiti was done by one of their students or an intruder.
President Glenn Cummings condemned the “disgraceful” statement in an email sent to staff and students on Wednesday and apologized to Muslim students for the school’s failure to prevent incidents like this from happening.
“I cannot begin to tell you how this strikes at the heart of everything we are trying to accomplish here as a place where everyone feels welcome and safe,” Cummings wrote. “I am personally sickened by this and apologize to our many Muslim students whose presence on our campus and contributions to our university I could not value more. We do not know who the perpetrator is, but are making every effort to find out and take action to the full extent of USM policies and Maine law. I expect that anyone who can furnish any information on the incident will come forward and do so.”
The incident — the second in the last six months — shocked students and school administrators.
“I at least want people to know that’s not okay,” a freshman told WLBZ “ I want a large group of people, the whole community to stand up and tell that person it’s not okay.”
USM administrators said they would try to find ways to prevent future occurrences but that their capacity is limited.
“While we can’t necessarily control everything that happens, we can control how we respond to these incidents,” the school’s executive director of public affairs told local media. “We will take it as seriously as one possibly could and try everything we can to find out who did it.”
Last fall, campus police investigated as a possible hate crime an anti-Muslim slogan used by alt-right groups which was found in a student government office.
In November, the Latin phrase “Deus Vult” or “God Wills It” — a rallying cry for Christians during the medieval Crusades recently adopted by white nationalists as an insult against Muslims — was found written twice at the Woodbury Campus Center, according to student leaders.
