A University of Delaware professor’s office was vandalized with a swastika, bringing the campus into the throes of far-right hate

A University of Delaware English professor’s office was vandalized with a swastika last week, leading Jewish professors and community members to cite this as an example of rising antisemitism on campus.

The antisemitic iconography — which also included a threatening message — defaced a poster for Philadelphia drag queen Martha Graham Cracker on associate professor Dawn Fallik’s office.

Fallik, who has been teaching her news literacy and critical writing courses virtually this semester, was informed by department chair John Ernest after another colleague discovered the graffiti early last week.

“I’ve lived all over the country — in Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, and Wisconsin — so I have been many people’s first Jew,” said Fallik, 52, a former Inquirer health reporter. “But I have never been targeted like this.”

To Fallik and several colleagues, the graffiti represent the intersection of far-right hate in America, where vitriol for one marginalized group — in this case, Jews — is used to target another, such as the LGBTQ+ community.

“I think I sort of hit the hate crime bingo — I’m a woman, I’m openly Jewish, I support trans rights — and as a professor, I am in a position to impact student’s perceptions,” Fallik said. “I am everything people who hate love to hate.”

The incident occurred as bills targeting drag performances are introduced across the country, including in Arkansas, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania, and antisemitic acts rose by more than 35% in the United States last year, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

In Delaware, acts of antisemitism recorded by the ADL more than quadrupled in 2022. Eight of the 11 instances reported last year occurred in New Castle County, where the University of Delaware is located.

Patrick Ogden, chief of University of Delaware Police, told The Inquirer that 17 instances of antisemitism were reported to campus police in 2022, with only one incident leading to an arrest and eight considered “unfounded.” Six incidents — including Fallik’s — have been reported to campus police this year.

Ogden declined to disclose the number of antisemitic incidents reported to university police in years before 2022.

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Ogden said the vandalism found on Fallik’s door is being investigated. No suspects have been found.

University of Delaware president Dennis Assanis issued a statement “unequivocally denouncing this incident” as a “blatant act of hatred and discrimination” to the campus community last week, after members of the English department faculty circulated a letter in support of the university’s Jewish and queer communities.

Faculty members say the act has eroded a sense of security for Jewish and LGBTQ students and professors whose education is intertwined with their identities.

Laura Helton, an assistant professor of English and history, was among the professors who discovered the vandalism. Helton, an openly gay professor who teaches queer studies courses, says the incident has created fear among Delaware’s tight knit queer community.

“My colleagues teaching courses about trans rights are now wondering if students feel safe coming to their classes. I wonder about my safety when I’m alone,” said Helton, 45.

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The incident has already had a chilling effect on Fallik: She doesn’t plan to stop teaching, but she is concerned about mentioning her identity in lessons going forward.

Fallik said the act followed a “very intense two weeks” of lessons in the news literacy course, where she discussed with students the ethics of reporting on communities you may belong to.

At one point, being Jewish came up.

“I asked, ‘I’m Jewish. Can I cover a shooting at a Jewish synagogue?’” Fallik recalled.

Donna Schwartz, the executive director of the University of Delaware’s chapter of Hillel, a Jewish campus organization, said Jewish students have also felt increasingly insecure about showcasing their faith and culture publicly around campus: “They used to proudly wear their hamsa necklaces or their Hillel T-shirts. Now, I think, students are rethinking those choices.”

Just more than 12% of the University of Delaware’s 18,000-plus students identify as Jewish, according to Hillel. This is not the only high-profile incidence of antisemitism: The university’s Chabad — a Jewish community center — was set on fire in 2020, and posters touting an antisemitic conspiracy theory were plastered around campus in 2017.

The university is also a 15-minute drive from Elkton, Md., a former Ku Klux Klan stronghold that used to send members to march on campus in the 1970s.

The University of Delaware did not respond to repeated requests for comment regarding historic hate crime statistics, and the specifics of how it plans to respond to the vandalism.

The message from Assanis includes counseling options for students and faculty distressed by the vandalism, but doesn’t mention any immediate next steps.

“Those who spew this kind of disgusting rhetoric believe they can divide us or weaken our resolve in promoting a more welcoming community at UD,” the statement read. “They will not succeed.”

Fallik was supportive of the university’s message, saying it met her chief demand: informing the community of the incident. She hopes the message leads to an education plan around how to combat antisemitism, created with organizations such as the ADL or Southern Poverty Law Center.

The statement followed one drafted by four English department faculty members — including Helton — condemning any and all actions that “target members of the University of Delaware community for their race, sexuality, gender, ability, religion, or any other aspect of their identity.”

Helton said the letter got more than 350 signatures from students and faculty within 24 hours of it going out early last week. Now, all the offices in Memorial Hall are plastered with fliers that read, “Hate speech does not belong.”

Next up: Hanging the original poster for Martha Graham Cracker’s performance on doors in the building so Fallik doesn’t feel isolated.