‘Kill your local colonizer’: Campus-wide graffiti, vandalism spur University of Washington president to demand Gaza camp disband

Wednesday morning, students faculty, and staff arrived at UW to find what was described by UW's Vice President of the Office of External Affairs (OEA) Randy Hodgins in an email to staff obtained by The Daily as a “major escalation” of violent and antisemitic graffiti across “virtually every building” on the school's campus.

He added that it will take days to clean it all up noting “it is a shame what has happened to our campus.”

Cauce noted that activists have used “rhetoric and language used in chants and signs within the Quad and at protests, while protected speech, was and is vile and antisemitic.”

Some of the vandalism included graffiti on the base of a statue of George Washington, the university’s namesake, being tagged with the words “Save a life. Kill your local colonizer,” and a symbol used in Hamas propaganda to target Jews.

Other graffiti doxxed a local journalist, Jonathan Choe, who was attacked by Antifa militants in the encampment last week.

Cauce discussed having engaged “sincerely and openly” with “the representatives of the encampment” but “have been consistently clear we will not engage in an academic boycott of Israel or “cut all ties” with Boeing. Both run counter to academic freedom, a core value of the academy,” as demanded by the Hamas-supporting activists.

She noted that many of the demands “including most recently demanding the creation of a new department that would have an 'anti-Zionist' litmus test for faculty hiring; granting a student group oversight of awarding new, religion-based University scholarships; and a blanket amnesty for all violations of the law and student code, including not solely camping” are “contrary to academic freedom and/or to state or federal law."

Though Cauce asked again that the encampment disband, she offered no timeline or consequences if they did not. Cauce was also mocked for calling for a “ceasefire” in Gaza when she appeared unable to prevent activists from stealing American and Israeli flags and lighting them on fire on the campus.

According to KOMO News, three UW crews worked to remove the spray paint from buildings but were accompanied by police officers as a security detail. One staffer told the outlet that while they were on a lunch break, they returned to discover that their water hose had been cut. Workers and police were also heckled by the pro-Hamas and Antifa activists.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle and the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) released a statement Wednesday about the “antisemitic and anti-Zionist vandalism last night at the University of Washington perpetrated by members of the encampment” stating “Our community is outraged and heartbroken by the experience that our Jewish students are living through on campus. Jewish students shouldn’t be forced to walk to class surrounded by antisemitic graffiti and chants, which at times have included death threats against Jews and the praising of the worst attack perpetrated against the Jewish community since the Holocaust.”

“Jews hold dearly the right to free speech, and, yet, these criminal actions and hate speech go far beyond free speech and must be treated with the utmost seriousness. Actions by members of the encampment traffic in blatant antisemitism and threaten the physical and psychological safety of many Jewish and Israeli campus community members. At some point, the University leadership’s actions - or lack thereof - speak louder than words. Enough is enough.”

The organization demanded that the university, “Clear the illegal encampment, hold students who violate the student code of conduct accountable, and not betray the school’s academic mission by divesting from Boeing or dissociating from academic programs connected to Israel.” Additionally, the Federation asked that “antisemitism is added to the robust DEI offerings at UW” and “ensure the class of 2024 graduation continues as planned,” as commencements have already been canceled at other universities.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) also issued a statement noting that students should be focused on end-of-quarter activities and graduation and not their safety on campus and slammed the administration for not acting following multiple reports of antisemitic vandalism and Jewish students being blocked from entering the Quad. "We call on President Cauce to take action by holding perpetrators accountable, taking the necessary steps to ensure all students are safe, and committing to no tolerance for antisemitism on campus."