This is an ongoing story. Mustang News will publish updates as more information becomes available.
On Monday, members of SLO Hillel, a Jewish organization on campus and in San Luis Obispo, discovered vandalism and politically charged messages covering the Cal Poly “P,” which SLO Hillel had painted the day prior, Lauren Bandari, SLO Hillel Executive Director, told Mustang News.
The people who vandalized the “P” have not been publicly identified. The Cal Poly Police Department in their activity log defined the incident as vandalism and is investigating the situation, according to Cal Poly Spokesperson Matt Lazier.
In celebration of SLO Hillel’s 12th annual Israel Week, SLO Hillel painted the “P” blue and white on Sunday with the message “BRING THEM HOME NOW,” in reference to more than 130 people still being held hostage since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas in southern Israel. The painting also featured a yellow ribbon in solidarity with the hostages, as part of a worldwide campaign that started after the Oct. 7 attack.
Between Sunday night and Monday morning, a message stating “STOP THE GENOCIDE” and two red hand symbols were painted on the “P” without reserving it through ASI. A sophomore SLO Hillel member who wished to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation said she interpreted the red hand symbols to be in reference to the 2000 Ramallah lynching in Palestine.
“To us, that [symbol] shows that [Palestinians] want us dead,” the student said. “It was heartbreaking to see that lack of empathy and just straight-up antisemitism. I almost cried. It was heartbreaking to see that despite the beauty of our campus and how lovely Cal Poly students are, that hate [exists] on our campus, and especially on such an important landmark like the ‘P.’”
Microbiology freshman Benjamin Broudy was not involved in the original painting of the “P” but helped to repaint it after it was vandalized. Broudy, some other students and community members repainted the “P” to cover the graffiti on Monday.
“The fact that it was vandalized on the first night over a message of not war but just wanting to have people come back who are civilians, like family members friends who are hostages in Gaza. I think that was very demoralizing,” Broudy said.
Business freshman Max Schleuning is a part of SLO Hillel and wanted to repaint the “P” to show people that SLO Hillel members are Jewish and proud of being Jewish, he said.
“We decided to repaint the ‘P’ because we wanted to show people that we’re Jewish and we’re proud of being Jewish,” Schleuning said. “We’re not going to stop expressing ourselves just because there are people that want to oppose us.”
SLO Hillel posted on Instagram on Tuesday that their painting had been vandalized, and described the vandalism as “hostile” and “antisemitic.”
In response to the vandalism, Lazier said Cal Poly has provided support to SLO Hillel and worked with them to remove the graffiti.
“All campus community members and visitors who abide by the law and the university’s time, place and manner policies are welcome to express themselves on our campus — however, we must draw a distinction between lawful expression and actions that cross over into the unlawful,” Lazier said in an email to Mustang News. “Cal Poly will not tolerate violence, vandalism, trespassing or any other criminal activities on its campus, and any such actions will be addressed swiftly and appropriately.”
In addition to Cal Poly’s support to SLO Hillel, Bandari said she wishes Cal Poly would release a statement to the entire campus community.
“A statement reiterating that all students should feel safe and supported in visually demonstrating their pride and identity for who they are is always a welcome statement, and one that can’t be said enough,” Bandari said.
In addition to the vandalism to the “P,” other pro-Palestine chalk messages such as “Escalate for Gaza,” “From the lawns and past the gates, it is time to escalate” and “Divest from genocide,” were written in the University Union plaza in chalk overnight from May 3 to 4, according to Lazier, who said all of the chalk was immediately removed.
“I think it is definitely is a little bit concerning when we see things that you know say ‘escalate’ stuff like that when really we just want peace for both sides. So I think in general it has just been kind of concerning and pretty hurtful to have to see these kinds of things on a regular basis on campus,” Broudy said.
According to Lazier, the university also found spray-painted graffiti on the entrance sign to campus on California Boulevard was immediately removed.
A commenter on Instagram, @tori_stephenss, criticized the original messages in SLO Hillel’s painting of the “P” on their Instagram post about painting the “P” before the vandalism.
“As a Jewish person, I feel it’s important to point out that this is a Zionist point of view and not the perspective of all Jewish people,” the comment said. “Israel is committing genocide and murdering Palestinians. I find it irresponsible to be making a post like as a Jewish account without acknowledging that this kind of a post is Zionistic pro-genocide not pro-Jewish.”
The Cal Poly Police Department declined to comment on Tuesday due to the ongoing investigation.
Update: This article was updated on May 23 to remove the names of some organizations to avoid confusion over involvement in the incident.