At around 12:30 this afternoon, students were inscribing their final messages across the Memorial building steps and surrounding pavement. One chalking reads,
“Boycott Whitman. Defund Facism. Defund Genocide.”
These recent chalkings are numerous in volume compared to past chalking incidents that the campus has seen. The currently chalked messages create a radius around the Memorial building, covering every exit route.
One message reads,
“Whitman claims to create leaders but funds their murder in Palestine.” The message is supplemented with chalked handprints left presumably by the message writers.
Along with being Pro-Palestinian in sentiment, the chalkings are also anti-fascist.
“Silence is Complicity. Silencing Students is Fascism,” says one message.
By the back entrance of the Memorial Building, the chalkings are just as frequent. All chalkings by the tennis courts were blurred out by someone after they were written.
“Erasing our chalk will not cover your participation in Genocide. Over $16,000,000 is invested in building bombs to drop onto innocent people,” says one message. This message references the 2% of Whitman’s endowment that Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) says the administration has confirmed is invested in military corporations and arms dealers. While SJP is a Pro-Palestine club, they are not affiliated with all Pro-Palestine actions on campus.
As of now, it is unconfirmed who did the chalkings in front of the Memorial building. The Wire has yet to receive comment from anyone involved.
**Update (4/13): Students have written Board of Trustees chair, Joe Davis’s name in chalk near the Memorial Building. This comes after the College’s statement that publicly naming community members is considered harassment. This statement occurred in Chief of Staff, Maggie Eaheart’s Nov. 27, 2024 email titled “Vandalism at the Memorial Building.”
The email notes,
“actions that publicly target individual members of the community by name, such as doxxing and other activities, may be considered intimidation or harassment.”
