In recent weeks some of U of T’s washrooms have been a sketchpad for bigots.
A washroom stall in Sidney Smith hall had several swastikas drawn and carved into it, as well as anti-semitic and homophobic slurs such as, “Die Jews,” “Kill Jews,” and “Kill Fags.” Responses appeared next to some of the graffiti, like “Moron,” “Nazis out.” Someone even took the time to briefly explain the origins of the swastika in Asia, rather than in Germany, and concluded the small essay by writing “The Third Reich has fallen, and there will never be a fourth, you sad, misinformed, bigots.”
The New College washroom’s graffiti, however, was strictly homophobic, saying things like “Homo=AIDS,” and the perennial favourite, “God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.” One response said, “Your God made Mistakes.”
A staff member at the Faculty of Arts and Science registrar’s office, who declined to identify herself, said that the Sid Smith graffiti took about two weeks to be removed because of the nature of the graffiti.
“It was considered a criminal offence, so janitors couldn’t just remove it,” she said.
“The idea is to remove it as quickly as possible,” said Special Constable Sam D’Angelo, Operations Manager for the U of T Police Services. “If it’s hate we’ll take photos… Then we’ll spray over it.” As for the delay in removing the graffiti from the Sid Smith washroom, D’Angelo said, “I’m not sure why that happened. People don’t sometimes act as quickly as they should.”
Lisa Isen Baumel, director of the Wolfond Centre for Jewish Campus Life, explained how she felt about grafitti being left for too long: “It’s frustrating,” she said. “Obviously you want to avoid as many people seeing that kind of thing as possible.”
Lia Katz, Co-chair of Israel Affairs at Hillel of U of T, expressed alarm in response to the graffiti.
“U of T should be a safe environment for all students,” said Katz, “and I believe that it usually is. I’m just shocked that it could happen here at U of T.”
“There’s been homophobic graffiti in washrooms for as long as I’ve been at the university and long, long before that,” said Professor David Rayside, who teaches Political Science and Sexual Diversity Studies. “There have been some parallels between the experience of being Jewish and the experience of being Gay or Lesbian. People have particular fears or anxieties about Jewishness or about racial difference or about women or about homosexuality,” said Rayside. “There has been a policy in place for quite some time now to eliminate hateful graffiti quickly.”
Kurt Ilk, Internal Chair at queer campus group LGBTOUT, called the washrooms at Innis College “infamous” for their graffiti. He also considers the Medical Science building to be especially popular with homophobic graffitists.
While the hate graffiti at New College and Sid Smith have been cleaned off, it is still present around campus. Just days after the Sidney Smith washroom was cleaned, for instance, a new swastika appeared there, and was still present as of last Wednesday.
University of Toronto Police have not said if there are any suspects in these cases. Special Constable D’Angelo explained what to do if someone should notice hate graffiti around campus. “Call [U of T Police at] 978-2323. Give a location. Tell us what it is. We’ll come over, and we’ll investigate.”
