Image from The Detroit News
Michigan (IINA) - An Arab-American advocacy group is investigating “hate graffiti” denouncing Islam, found this week on the University of Michigan campus, The Detroit News reported.
A group of students contacted the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee’s Michigan regional office on Wednesday about “racist symbols and phrases” displayed at the Ann Arbor school including some labeled “#stopIslam,” officials said.
“We will defend against the intimidation of our students everywhere,” said Fatina Abdrabuh, ADC Michigan’s director. “We expect university officials to take proactive measures to ensure safe spaces for our community’s students in these heightened times of Islamophobia and anti-Arab sentiment.”
She said her group, which posted a photo showing one of the messages online, reached out to UM officials about the issue.
Rick Fitzgerald, a university spokesman, said police responded after someone scrawled the anti-Islam message in chalk earlier Wednesday on the campus’ main square known as the Diag. It wasn’t immediately clear if an investigation would be launched.
Though school policy allows chalking on campus sidewalks, “attacks directed toward any member or group within the University of Michigan community, based on a belief or characteristic, are inconsistent with our values of respect, civility and equality,” Fitzgerald said. “We all understand that where speech is free it will sometimes wound. But our message is this: We are fully committed to fostering an environment that is welcoming and inclusive of everyone. Tonight we are reminded there is much work yet to be done.”
SM/IINA
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