Administrators have taken notice of several acts of vandalism that have occurred on East Campus since the start of the academic year.
East Campus Council alerted some freshmen to both small and large-scale incidents-ranging from writing racist slurs on doors to defacing benches-in an e-mail sent Oct. 27, and urged students to come forward with any information.
"Many of our fellow classmates have been subject to racial slurs, verbal assault and other forms of harassment," the e-mail reads. "It is important to recall and recognize that we are, first and foremost, an academic community founded to foster relationships built on mutual respect."
In one case, swastikas were found written on several doors in Giles Residence Hall in October, Dean of Students Sue Wasiolek confirmed. There are no leads on who drew the swastikas, and a police report has not been filed, she said. East Campus Council, however, wrote in the e-mail that a police report related to incidents in Giles would be filed.
Wasiolek said East Campus administrators have been working with the victims of the attacks to ensure that they have recovered from the damaging slurs.
"They've really worked with the students and dealt with their wishes," she said. "At the same time, we've tried to make the appropriate people aware without broadcasting it."
But apart from the initial intervention by administrators, Wasiolek said effort has not been made to pursue the vandals who drew the swastikas on doors in Giles.
"I think we will always be willing to obtain any information, but I wouldn't call it an active investigation," she said.
Lisa Beth Bergene, assistant dean for residence life on East, could not be reached for comment.
Resident assistants in Giles addressed the damaging slurs in a dorm meeting, but little else has been done to combat the vandalism once it was scrubbed off the doors, said a Giles resident assistant who spoke to The Chronicle on the condition of anonymity.
"We just had a talk within our dorm about it," the RA said. "I only know a little bit about it. We had to take care of it right away, because it was nasty stuff. It was completely ignorant, ignorant things."
Rebecca Simons, the director for Jewish Life at Duke, wrote in an e-mail that she had been contacted by the Dean of Students Office once they discovered the swastikas on the doors. She added that the appearance of the offensive symbols has not prompted any changes in policy.
"There is no indication that this is anything other than an isolated incident," she said.
In another incident, blood was found smeared on the walls of the maintenance hall of Blackwell Residence Hall in mid-October. Freshman Kia Fathi said the shirtless perpetrator was seen leaving the hallway, where he had marked several large circles and wrote "f-" with his own blood. A razor was found near the scene, he added.
Fathi said the mess was cleaned up soon after the vandalism occurred, and that no police report was filed.
The Dean of Students Office was not informed about the incident in Blackwell, Wasiolek said.
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