Two Jewish students received an anonymous threatening note that was left under their door at their off-campus apartment Tuesday, according to a statement sent to The Herald by the students who received the message, who asked to remain anonymous for safety concerns.
The students said the note, which read “Those who live for death will die by their own hand,” was left underneath their door by an unknown person and brought inside by an electrician. The students learned of this latest development from a PPD detective.
The Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity is investigating the event as a “bias incident,” according to a community email sent by Vice President for Institutional Equity and Diversity Sylvia Carey-Butler and Vice President for Public Safety and Emergency Management Rodney Chatman.
The email noted that “there is evidence the perpetrator left the note based on the Jewish identity of the students who live there” and called on the Brown community to condemn antisemitism.
“As a community, we must take the strongest possible stand in condemning antisemitism and all forms of biased and discriminatory behavior and hateful speech. We take any and all reports of bias, harassment and discrimination very seriously, and investigate and respond under Brown’s applicable policies and procedures,” Carey-Butler and Chatman added.
The note was located on a shelf inside the students’ home, which they noticed on Tuesday evening at around 6:00 p.m.
According to the students, the note “was crumpled, ripped out of a small notepad, had some dirt on it and was written in pencil in all caps.” The message matches lyrics from “Annihilation,” a song by early ’80s punk band Crucifix.
“It was really frightening,” the students wrote. “We did not feel safe being in our home starting from that moment.”
The Department of Public Safety was contacted at 7:05 p.m, Chatman wrote in an email sent to the Brown community at 10:15 p.m. on Tuesday.
Chatman labeled the incident as “bias-related crime.”
The students have been contacted by representatives from Residential Life, the Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity and Student Support Services, they said, adding that they feel supported by the administration.
The students who received the threat said they were “really saddened by the environment on campus” in recent months. “People have hid behind anonymity on platforms such as Sidechat” — an anonymous online platform used by many Brown students — “and have made Jewish, Israeli, Palestinian, and Arab students feel threatened,” they added. “It’s really scary to see the hate become real like this.”
On Dec. 6, the University Office of Communications released a guide for managing online and social media harassment to help community members “help prevent and respond to instances of harassment online,” according to its webpage.
In a Dec. 5 faculty meeting, President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 said that the University will be considering whether it needs to “enhance” its Title VI policies, which “prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin in programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance,” according to the Department of Justice.
“I hope that everyone on this campus will understand that we need to recognize our shared humanity and come together to end this cycle of hatred,” the students who received the message wrote.
“We came to Brown to learn from each other,” they added. “We know this is a campus of smart, loving, open-minded and compassionate people. Instead of leaving anonymous, threatening notes, let’s start having conversations and listening to each other’s stories.”
“We cannot tolerate actions or behaviors that make any individual or group feel “othered” or unsafe,” Chatman and Carey-Butler wrote. “We ask all who work, study and live at Brown to work together to be a caring and compassionate community.”
Chatman asked students with any information to call PPD or DPS.
Department of Public Safety (Non-Emergency Number): (401) 863-3322
Providence Police Department (Non-Emergency Number): (401) 272-3121
Counseling and Psychological Services: 401-863-3476
Owen Dahlkamp is a section editor overseeing coverage for University News and Science and Research. Hailing from San Diego, CA, he is concentrating in Political Science and Cognitive Neuroscience with an interest in data analytics. In his free time, you can find him making spreadsheets at Dave’s Coffee.
Ryan Doherty is a section editor covering faculty, higher education and science and research. He is a junior concentrating in Chemistry and Economics who likes to partially complete crosswords in his free time.
