The Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards is investigating reports of an alteration to a Ramadan mural on the Free Expression Bridge off of East Campus that “was understood by many in [the Duke] community to explicitly target Muslims and the Islamic faith,” according to a Sunday email from Duke Student Affairs.
Student Affairs and the Office of Institutional Equity were notified of the incident Thursday. The OSCCS is looking into possible violations of the Duke Community Standard and the Policy on Prohibited Discrimination, Harassment and Related Misconduct (PPDHRM) and to see “if more can be learned about the circumstances surrounding this event.”
The email — sent by Mary Pat McMahon, vice provost and vice president of Students Affairs, and Kimberly Hewitt, vice president for institutional equity and chief diversity officer — listed two alterations to the Free Expression Bridge that are under investigation.
First, a Quranic verse — “Our Lord, indeed You are Kind and Merciful” — was edited to include the word “not” before “Merciful.” McMahon and Hewitt noted that changing the meaning of the verse “can be particularly affronting and impactful to Muslims” and that such incidents “feed existing stereotypes that can lead to violent acts against Muslims.”
The second alteration included posters of red cows that covered paintings of flags of several Muslim-majority nations. According to the email, red cow imagery is connected to “calls to destroy the al-Aqsa mosque, the holy Muslim site in Jerusalem.”
McMahon and Hewitt shared that the graffiti has already been painted over by University administration.
“We did this to reinforce our existing values and clarify that acts of harassment and discrimination against those who practice Islam or are from a Muslim majority country are prohibited under the Policy,” McMahon and Hewitt wrote.
The last time Student Affairs covered a message on the bridge was Oct. 19, when the University painted over the phrase “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” McMahon wrote in an Oct. 19 email to all undergraduate students that the phrase was “understood by many in our community and beyond as a call for violence targeting the Jewish community.”
University administration recently updated the PPDHRM policy March 12 to include a definition of Islamophobia in examples of what constitutes discrimination, harassment and related misconduct.
The policy defines Islamophobia as “a form of discrimination or harassment that is based on one’s religion (Islam) and/or national origin (e.g. an individual from a Muslim majority country).”
The Sunday email was sent to all Duke graduate, professional and undergraduate students and also included resources for those who might be impacted by the defacement.
Resources included Counseling and Psychological Services, DukeReach and the Student Affairs On-Call team. The message also included links to various identity and cultural centers, including the Center for Muslim Life, the Center for Multicultural Affairs and Jewish Life at Duke, among others.
“At Duke, we firmly believe in freedom of expression while creating a community of care,” McMahon and Hewitt wrote. “Hate has no place in the Duke community.”
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Michael Austin is a Trinity junior and managing editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume.
Zoe Kolenovsky is a Trinity junior and news editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume.
Abby Spiller is a Trinity junior and editor-in-chief of The Chronicle's 120th volume.