Swastika drawing discovered in the library - The Denisonian

MALINI ADKINS, Special to The Denisonian — Upon returning to school, it was discovered that someone had drawn a swastika in our library. Students were shocked when they learned about this, including Abigail Edminster ‘21. She first discovered the hateful drawing when she came into the library one day to do some work.

“I went to the library on Saturday afternoon, maybe around noon or so,” Abigail stated. “I went into the study room right at the top of the black stairs that you go all the way up to the third floor, and it was that first study room right in front of the stairs. It was drawn on the radiator, near the windowsill.”

Upon discovering, Abigail immediately brought this to the library staff’s attention and had them remove the drawing. But, in addition to that, Abigail directly took it upon herself to write an open letter to whoever drew the swastika.

“I just got kind of fed up, to be honest,” she admitted. “I was just angry because this campus had a really rough year last year, so I thought that maybe this year will be different. We’ll all be cool to each other and kind, and not do stupid stuff. I think that this was just kind of the kick in the pants for me…. I’m just sitting here and seeing this kind of thing happen and I want to do something about it this time.”

In the letter, she details her feelings and explains why these types of drawings are harmful in a campus setting. At the end of the letter, she invites the perpetrator to come forward and reach out to her. At this time, Abigail has not received any further contact from anyone admitting to this drawing.

“I feel that having someone call them out and tell them specifically what is wrong about that and just educating them in a firm way is enough to put them in their place.”

Abigail says that the invitation is still open for anyone that would like to talk to her about this, even if it’s not the person who did it. She is ready to start a conversation about this.

“I feel like it’s important to let people know….because I don’t think that was meant to intentionally make people scared or harm people or anything like that, but I think you should educate people and let them know that it’s not a joke and this isn’t something you can get away with. This isn’t something that belongs on our campus…I came to Denison because I thought that the people were so nice and accepting and I felt that I could find my people here, and I have found some really, really great people and most of the people that I’ve met on this campus are wonderful…I care a lot about this campus and its people so it’s just frustrating to see something so blatantly go against the values that we uphold as a community.”